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Department of Social Economy 

FOR THE 

United States Commission to the Paris Exposition of 1900 



MONOGRAPHS 




ON 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


EDITOR 

HERBERT B. ADAMS 

Professor in the Johns Hopkins University 


ASSOCIATE EDITOR 

RICHARD WATERMAN jr 

xvi 


INDUSTRIAL BETTERMENT 


BY 

WILLIAM HOWE TOLMAN ph.d. 

Secretary of the League for Social Service 
and 

Special Agent for Department of Education and Social Economy for the United States 
Commission to the Paris Exposition of 1900 


This Monograph is contributed to the United States Social Economy 
Exhibit by The League for Social Service, New York 


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CAl 

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Copyright 1900 

BY 

William H. Tolman, ph.d. 
Secretary of the League for Social Service 
New York City 


The Social Service Press 
New York City, U. S. A. 


NOV 2G 1906 
D. Of D. 







INDUSTRIAL BETTERMENT* 


INTRODUCTION. 

The essential characteristic of the industrial conditions of 
to-day is the substitution of mechanical for muscular power, 
whether the source of energy for the machine be supplied by 
water, steam, electricity or air. Accordingly, inventive gen¬ 
ius has lavished its powers on the perfection of the inanimate 
machine, the inert mass of iron or steel, awaiting only the 
application of the energizing force of nature to make it per¬ 
form the complicated wishes of the inventor. 

In recent years it has been slowly dawning upon the mind 
of the employer that his human machines—his hands, as he 
calls them—need attention, need rest, need the best environ¬ 
ment for the production of the best results. 

Some employers have improved the conditions under which 
their men work, because they felt that they owed their opera¬ 
tives something more than wages ; they felt that their em¬ 
ployees had done the labor share in the production of wealth, 
and that recognition of some kind was due them for that. 
Others again improved the condition of their operatives be¬ 
cause it paid, in actual dollars and cents, and another class 
have been influenced by genuine altruism. 

Whatever may be the motives of the employer, whether he 
be influenced by the most sordid selfishness or the noblest 
altruism, the writer claims that the employee has been the 
gainer by any improvement in his industrial environment. 
Especially is this so where the wage earner has had the eco¬ 
nomic foresight to seize these advantages to perfect himself, 
whereby he makes himself of greater commercial worth to his 
employer. His wage earning capacity has been increased, 
and the tendency is towards a recognition of this fact in 
advancement or a feeling of security in his present position. 



4 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS. 


The individual who improves his own condition cannot fail to 
be of greater worth to the industry, in his own home and in 
the community, facts which are positive assets in industrial, 
social and civic stability. 

The following discussion will be a study of what employers 
are doing to improve the conditions of their operatives, 
whether in the industry in question or in their homes, and 
finally the effect of industrial and social betterment on the 
community. Within the brief limits that have been allotted 
to this monograph, it has been impossible to do more than 
select typical movements that illustrate the various phases of 
industrial betterment. 

PART I.—THE PLANT. 

In a review of what is being done to improve the condition 
of the employee, the subject will be approached with the cen¬ 
tral thought that the factory or the work shop is the indus¬ 
trial home of the employee, where he must spend at least one- 
third of each labor day. Money is spent lavishly, if need be, 
on the improvement and perfection of inanimate machinery, 
and some employers are realizing that it will pay them to im¬ 
prove and perfect their animate machines ; in other words, 
improved machines are compelling improved men. The first 
part of this study will deal with the plant. 

Perhaps the first step in Industrial Betterment has been an 
attempt to adorn the grounds of the factory by a stretch of 
lawn, dotted with trees and flowers, and the decoration of the 
buildings by trailing vines. In many cases this may have 
been done unconsciously, the owner’s home grounds having 
been treated in this way, when the thought came to him that 
there was no reason why his factory grounds should not be 
treated in the same way. In some cases the decoration of 
the grounds of the factory and the buildings has resulted 
from a deliberate purpose to make the surroundings of the 
worker as pleasant as possible. 


INDUSTRIAL BETTERMENT. 


5 


DECORATION OF FACTORY GROUNDS. 

The Patterson Bros., in Dayton, Ohio, were led to beautify 
their factory grounds by the observation of the so-called 
homes along the line of the railroad. They noted the stiff¬ 
ness and the ugliness of fences, outbuildings, porches and 
yards, and reflected that much of that same ugliness could be 
dispelled by the bringing in of beauty. They then decided 
that their own factory and grounds could be improved, and 
they tried to do the work themselves. Failing signally, they 
then called in the advice of John C. Olmstead. The lawn re¬ 
ceived the first attention. 

Several years ago they found that bright interiors, plenty 
of light, bright colored buff walls in place of dingy ones, 
painting machinery buff instead of dead black, all seemed to 
make the shops more cheerful and the resulting work more 
satisfactory. Then they introduced palms into the factory. 
Then they said that if it was a good thing to make the inte¬ 
rior bright, clean and attractive, it would have a good effect to 
make the outside the same. They wanted the factory men 
to have pleasant impressions whichever way they looked, and 
as the bright buff-colored interiors did not harmonize with 
dirt lying around the grounds, they cleaned them up and, as 
a natural step, began to plant shrubbery. Naturally this had 
a good effect upon the men’s interest, improved their health, 
while they worked better and more cheerfully. If all this 
was a good thing about the factory, it would be equally ap¬ 
plicable to the houses in the neighborhood. Mr. J. C. Olm¬ 
stead was asked to come to visit the houses and the neigh¬ 
borhood. A stenographer took down his suggestions, so 
that they combined their own theory and Mr. Olmstead’s prac¬ 
tice. 

The General Electric Light Company in Schenectady have 
decorated the main entrance to their works with beds of 
flowers. Boston ivy has been planted about the principal 
buildings near the entrance. It was suggested by the writer 


6 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS. 


that markers indicating the common name of the flowers, 
vines and shrubs, would be of great assistance to the em¬ 
ployees desirous of purchasing similar plants for their own 
homes. 

In one Ohio (Dayton) factory the women and girls come to 
work one hour later than the men, for the sake of avoiding 
the rush and the crowding of the men and women. In a 
Rochester factory the girls come five minutes later than the 
men and go to their rooms by separate entrances. Their 
work rooms are also separated from the men. In a New 
York Insurance Company’s office, the men and women have 
their work in separate parts of the room. When the girls in 
the Ohio (Dayton) factory enter the building to begin their 
work, they are able to ride up to the various stories on the 
elevator, thus beginning the day with that amount of saved 
exertion to their credit; both the girls and men go to rooms 
where the walls and ceilings are tinted buff, this color having 
been found to be the most restful to the eye. The New 
York Machinist Press paint their printing presses with 
white enamel paint, the men calling them the White Squad¬ 
ron. In every new factory there is no reason why the window 
space should not be as large as possible for the sake of the 
greatest amount of air and light, two essentials of health in 
the performance of the best work. In an old factory the ex¬ 
pense of replacing the small windows by large ones is com¬ 
paratively slight. 

Many an employee’s work is made needlessly heavy by 
thoughtlessness that does not provide a comfortable seat, 
which by no means lessens the efficiency of the work. 
Chairs with comfortable backs, adjusted so as to conform to 
the various heights of the users, are provided in the National 
Cash Register Company. Foot stools are an additional com¬ 
fort, while in one room the chairs are fitted with an adjust¬ 
able metal rim, that can be used for a foot rest. The water 
closets are ample and clean, the wash rooms are remarkably 
neat; muslin curtains and bits of ribbon enliven the room 


NATIONAL CASH REGISTER COMPANY 

DAYTON, OHIO, U. S. A. 

Incidents of Old and New Factory Life. 




The Old Way—Luncheon in the Work Room. 


The New Way—Young Women's Dining-Room. 



Young Women of the Factory Among the Canna-Beds on the Lawn. 



Working Under Difficulties—The Old Way. Where Work is Pleasure—The New Way. 















INDUSTRIAL BETTERMENT. 


7 


with delicacy and color. It was my privilege to suggest to 
the employer that he fit up spray baths in the basement of 
his factory for his men. The suggestion commended itself to 
him, and what was better, he ordered that each man should 
have twenty minutes a week in the winter at the expense of 
the Company for a spray bath, and forty minutes each week 
in summer for two baths. The women are treated in the 
same way as the men. At J. H. Williams & Company, 
drop forgers, in Brooklyn, in addition to the spray baths, each 
wash trough is provided with a douche, so that the workman 
can thoroughly clean his head from dust and dirt. 

IMPROVED MEN FOR AN IMPROVED FACTORY. 

In his efforts to attain the highest degree of excellence in 
hat making, Mr. John B. Stetson, of the John B. Stetson 
Company of Philadelphia, realized that two problems were 
involved ; one, securing the finest classes of material pro¬ 
duced, and the other, obtaining a much higher order of work¬ 
manship than was at that time possible to secure. The first 
problem was the least difficult. Experience in business, well 
organized connections and an abundance of capital made it 
not so difficult to obtain the best classes of raw material, but 
Mr. Stetson was obliged to overcome a much greater diffi¬ 
culty, that of educating labor up to the highest standard of 
workmanship, so that he might maintain his reputation for 
the manufacture of the very finest goods. In order to suc¬ 
cessfully overcome this difficulty he realized that in the first 
place his mechanics must be of a higher order of intelligence 
than had been found among hatters ; second, that many years 
of practical experience in the establishment would be neces¬ 
sary before the mechanic could attain the high standard es¬ 
tablished ; and third, that substantial appreciation and fairness 
in dealing would be essential to encourage the best efforts 
and co-operation of the employees. 

In order to overcome the first mentioned difficulty, evening 


8 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS. 


classes, lecture courses and a well selected library were estab¬ 
lished, giving every mechanic the opportunity of broadening 
his intelligence, while a well equipped gymnasium was 
erected for physical education. As hatters of the last decade 
were of a roving disposition, which interfered with long con¬ 
tinued organization, in order that they might be encouraged 
to locate long enough at this factory to obtain the standard 
set the John B. Stetson Building and Loan Association was 
established, where funds could be borrowed at a low rate of 
interest for the purpose of building homes. A saving fund 
paying five per cent interest on deposits was also established 
to encourage economy among the employees and also as an 
adjunct to the Building and Loan Association. 

Many other clubs and organizations have been organized 
from time to time to serve special purposes. The Union 
Mission Hospital was organized originally for the sole bene¬ 
fit of the employees, but through Mr. Stetson’s beneficence 
its doors for many years have been open to the deserving 
poor who require medical attention. 

A Sunday school and church, which have very commodious 
quarters within the factory building, and each of which has a 
seating capacity of 1,200, were established. The former, hav¬ 
ing an average attendance of 600, was established by Mr. 
Stetson to develop the moral character of the employees, 
as he rightly believed that the mechanic whose moral re¬ 
sponsibility is best developed performs the best class of work. 

It may be truthfully stated that these organizations have 
performed all that was expected of them, and their influence 
has not only been felt throughout this manufacturing organi¬ 
zation, but has greatly improved the status of the me¬ 
chanics, a policy which has excited great interest and favor¬ 
able comment among the great majority of manufacturers 
who have either heard of or visited this plant. There is no 
doubt but that the excellent reputation of this firm can be 
greatly attributed to the high class of labor employed, and 
this in turn may be greatly attributed to the advantages 


INDUSTRIAL BETTERMENT. 


9 


given them and the encouragement which has been offered. 

THE H. J. HEINZ CO. 

A business that started in 1869, in one room in a small 
two story house in the suburbs of Pittsburgh, has increased 
to such dimensions in 1900, that its buildings in Pittsburgh 
cover ten and one-half acres of floor space, that the product 
of 15,000 acres of vegetable farms constitute a part of the 
raw material, that there are salting houses in different states, 
and branch factories, with their own glass plant. Such 
an Aladdin-like increase is due to more than the mere pay¬ 
ment of wages, and in the judgment of the writer, the kindly 
care and the fair treatment of the employees have been large 
elements in the success of the business of the H. J. Heinz 
Co., of Pittsburgh, now employing 2,500 people. The build¬ 
ings are equipped, not only with every mechanical and scien¬ 
tific device that can be used advantageously, but the health, 
comfort, convenience and enjoyment of the employees receive 
the same careful attention. 

Thorough organization is maintained throughout the estab¬ 
lishment. The day’s work is begun by an individual report 
at the time-keeper’s office, a separate building, the portal to 
the great works. On entering, I could not help thinking what 
a splendid object lesson the employees received daily, as they 
glanced at the beautiful stained glass windows on which were 
depicted the humble origin of the great works, the seal of the 
city and mottoes inculcating energy, thrift and contentment. 
Approaching the factory, I found that the open space, 
covered with turf and beautiful in summer with flowers, was 
arranged by Mr. Heinz with a view of affording a bit of natural 
beauty, increased light and air, and better fire protection for 
the factories on the three sides of the quadrangle. 

Pittsburgh being a large manufacturing city where soft coal 
is burned, presents a dingy, dirty appearance. Mr. Heinz, 
believing that beauty and cleanliness have a business value, 


IO 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS. 


built his new factories with glazed bricks so they can be 
washed down by the hose. In addition he has just given 
orders to reface his old factory with the same kind of bricks. 

On entering the factory one instantly notices the trim and 
tidy appearance of the girls, with their blue gowns and white 
caps. The sanitary appliances are ample and perfect. There 
is a commodious dressing room, and each girl is provided 
with an individual locker. Adjoining these, are bath rooms 
and a temporary hospital. A special dining room decorated 
with pictures and plants has accommodations for 500 girls 
who bring their own luncheon. By the payment of one cent 
a day the “ coffee fund ” is created, the firm supplying the 
kitchens and cooks, crockery, milk and sugar. I find that 
there is a surplus from this fund, which is used for entertain¬ 
ments and summer outings. In the same room is a circulat¬ 
ing library and an organ. At the close of the meal it is cus¬ 
tomary to have a five-minute talk from a member of the firm, 
a foreman or some one of the men who will tell the girls 
about their departmental problems and their relation to the 
factory as a whole. Visitors are frequently called upon to 
make remarks. 

Christmas 1899, the large hall was utilized for a Christmas 
festival, when the largest Christmas tree possible was cov¬ 
ered with gifts from the girls to each other. The officers and 
the rest of the force were invited to the festival, and nearly 
1000 people attended. Nine gold watches and two beautiful 
clocks were presented to some of the heads of departments 
who had been with the firm from six to twenty-five years, 
and as the other employees left the building on that same 
evening, Mr. Heinz presented each with a silk umbrella with 
silver-handle trimmings. 

Another building certain to attract notice is a stable of 
three stories, with accommodations for fifty horses on each 
floor. All the interior frame work is of structural steel, the 
floor beams being filled with concrete and cement, with fix¬ 
tures of iron and steel, so that an absolutely fire-proof build- 


INDUSTRIAL BETTERMENT. 


I I 

ing has been secured. Windows on four sides, those in front 
of plate glass, make the interior light and cheerful. The 
stable is heated with steam, lighted with electricity, and pro¬ 
vided with the most improved system of ventilation. Foot 
baths, Russian baths and a hospital are provided for the 
horses. Automatic mechanism supplies their food and water ; 
by pressing a button, the water troughs in each stall are filled 
automatically. The horses are cleaned by electric brushes, 
and the harness when taken off is conveyed to the harness 
room by an over-head carrier, where, by a system of switches, 
it is sent to its appropriate place. 

The last building is 180x100 feet, and in addition to the 
lower floors, which are utilized for manufacturing purposes, a 
dining room will be furnished for the men. Other rooms will 
contain arrangements for spray baths and lavatories. In this 
building is the auditorium on the fourth and fifth floors, with 
a large stage and gallery. The seating capacity is 2,500. 
For years Mr. Heinz has wished that the people on the 
north side of Pittsburgh should have a commodious hall for 
public meetings, entertainments, and other social affairs, for 
the good of the community. This purpose will be met by 
the auditorium, which will be used as well for lectures, 
entertainments and Christmas festivals for the employees. 

On the top of the building there is a roof garden, afford¬ 
ing a cool and healthful breathing spot for the employees and 
visitors, a passenger elevator, with accommodations for thirty, 
running to the auditorium and roof garden. The plans and 
arrangements of this building were personally supervised by 
Mr. Heinz. The auditorium will be used on Sundays for a 
Sunday school for the employees and the people of the neigh¬ 
borhood. 

The park carriage, as it is called, is in constant use during 
the summer for an outing in the park of those girls who may 
chance to be slightly indisposed or who may be convalescent. 


12 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS. 


PRIZES. 


Suggestions for improvement, for reducing the cost, for 
economy in production, or for general management often 
occur to the man at the bench, perhaps more readily than to 
others because he is in daily contact with machines and tools. 
For the lack of encouragement many important suggestions 
are not reported at headquarters, thereby becoming of no 
avail in promoting the greater efficiency of the business. 
Some employers, keen enough to realize this loss, stimulate 
their employees by offering cash prizes. For example, one 
firm offered $100 for the first prize. In 1898 the prize was 
awarded to a man at the bench whose suggestion of making 
a slight change in the formation of the head of a screw, saved 
the company at least $2.00 a day. 

Unfortunately, the workers feel that good suggestions 
when made are not credited to them, but are reported to the 
office by the foreman or superintendent, who receives all the 
credit. To guard against this, and to insure perfect justice 
for each individual, the National Cash Register Company, of 
Dayton, Ohio, place in every department duplicating ma¬ 
chines. Thus every man making a suggestion is sure that it 
is credited to him, because he holds the duplicate copy. At 
this factory the following prizes are announced for the first 
six months of 1900,—$615 in cash prizes will be awarded to 
employees submitting the best suggestions, the amount to be 
divided as follows : 


1 st Prize-$50. 

2nd “ 40. 

3rd “ — 30. 

4th “ — 25. 


5th Prize-$20. 

15 Prizes each 15. 

15 “ “ 10. 

15 “ “ 5 * 


By such an arrangement fifty persons will receive prizes ; 
and even though a suggestion be of minor importance com¬ 
pared with others, the employee submitting it will have a good 
chance to receive a prize. On the other hand, the first five 


INDUSTRIAL BETTERMENT. 


13 


prizes offered should be an inducement to each employee to 
look for defects, and to invent and suggest improvements, 
with the idea of having his suggestions considered among the 
best five. For these prizes all factory and office employees 
(excepting heads of departments and their first assistants) 
and mechanical inspectors are entitled to compete. 

Suggestions may relate to improvements in registers, tools, 
machinery, systems employed, and to the general manage¬ 
ment of the business. Employees should submit their sug¬ 
gestions in writing to the Factory Committee, unless they re¬ 
fer to office work, when they should be addressed to the 
Office Committee. Suggestions may be written on the auto¬ 
graphic registers provided for that purpose, or they may be 
sent by messengers, shop mail, U. S. mail, or left with the 
doorkeeper. 

The A. B. Chase Company, manufacturers of pianos and 
organs, at Norwalk, Ohio, offer three annual prizes for the 
best suggestions for improvement on their instruments with¬ 
out increasing the cost; the best suggestions for improve¬ 
ment that can be utilized regardless of cost; and the best 
suggestions for reducing the cost, or for economy in produc¬ 
tion without detriment to the quality of the work ; and fourth, 
for the best suggestions not included in the other three 
classes for improving the business or the condition of the em¬ 
ployees. 

The above system was begun in 1899. The men were en¬ 
couraged to offer suggestions freely, and up to the first of the 
year out of fifty different suggestions about forty were util¬ 
ized. The distribution was made by the board of directors. 

The men are asked to make suggestions and complaints, 
and small boxes are placed at different places for their con¬ 
venience in doing so. 

“ From time to time certain suggestions are made by em¬ 
ployees to the management of this Company, which they wish 
to take up and adjust. The Company is always glad to re- 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS. 


14 

ceive suggestions or complaints from the employees ; it will 
be glad to investigate and adjust any that it can. For this 
purpose we have placed these small boxes around the fac¬ 
tory ; and if any employee has any suggestion to make, we 
shall be glad to have him write it on paper and place it in 
these boxes. The employee can suit himself about signing 
his name, but we would much prefer it, and the superintend¬ 
ent will treat all such communications with perfect confidence, 
and will guarantee that any such will not work to the detri¬ 
ment of the employee, and in most cases will probably work 
to his advantage. It is the desire of this Company to have 
the good will of all the employees, and it wishes to adjust all 
matters to their satisfaction as far as possible. 

“Commencing January 1st, we will inaugurate a system of 
prizes to our employees, and will distribute $100 in gold 
every six months until further notice. The money will be 
distributed in prizes as follows: 1st prize, $50; 2d prize, 
$20; 3d and 4th prizes, $10 each; 5th and 6th prizes, $5 
each. 

“This money will probably be distributed at the annual pic¬ 
nic and annual ball of the beneficial association, and will be 
awarded to any of our employees making the best sugges¬ 
tions for the betterment of this business. It is our belief 
that our staff, who are in daily contact with the works of this 
institution, should be able very often to offer us very valuable 
suggestions for the improvement of our work. These sug¬ 
gestions may be in regard to the management of the busi¬ 
ness, improvement in tools, or cheapening the method of 
handling our work, either by machinery or otherwise, and, in 
fact, anything that will in any way improve the product or 
cheapen the cost of the goods we manufacture in this plant. 

“The competition for these prizes is open to all of our em¬ 
ployees, except those employed in the office and those on 
regular salaries in the factory ; therefore, every employee, be 
he boy or man, in the employ of this Company, is open to 
enter into the competition for these prizes, and we would sug¬ 
gest that you make these recommendations in writing ; that 
is, if you can do so conveniently ; if not, then give them per¬ 
sonally to the superintendent, although we would much prefer 
to have you hand the recommendation in in writing, dating 
them the day you make the recommendation and signing your 
name to same. We will immediately file this recommenda- 


INDUSTRIAL BETTERMENT. 


15 


tion, will acknowledge the receipt of same to you, and at the 
end of six months will decide which of the suggestions are 
entitled to prizes, and distribute the money at that time. 

“We shall be glad indeed if all of our employees will feel at 
liberty to make suggestions at any time. We are very 
certain that you very often see things that you think could 
be improved upon, and we have no doubt your suggestions 
will be valuable to us, and we are perfectly willing to pay for 
them where they are as suggested in this arrangement. 

“ If this notice is not perfectly plain to you, we would be 
obliged if you will call our attention to it, because we want 
every man to understand just what we are attempting to do 
here, and we want it understood that these suggestions are 
open to every boy or man in the employ of this company, 
with the exception before stated/’ 

The F. H. Brownell Company, Rochester, N. Y., offer 
cash prizes for the best suggestions. For the greater effi¬ 
ciency of the system, and to encourage the men to continue 
making suggestions, each man receives an acknowledgment, 
with a statement whether or not his suggestion was original; 
and if so, that it is placed in competition. 

FIRE PROTECTION. 

Fire protection is a matter of vital concern to the em¬ 
ployee. At the drop forging establishment of J. H. Wil¬ 
liams & Co., Brooklyn, N. Y., the fire signal is a continuous 
blast of both steam whistles. One man with an assistant is 
in charge of each room; under them are men for detailed 
duties, giving the city alarm, placing the fire pails on the 
platform, closing the windows and doors, the monitor nozzle, 
and the various lines of hose. Each man has one duty, and 
he is held responsible for its accurate and intelligent per¬ 
formance. The fire extinguishing and protective apparatus 
is inspected every week. Each workman has a complete 
description of the general scheme, with details, so that he 
may know his individual relation to it. The following are the 
general instructions: 


i6 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS. 


“ Each foreman will see that all apparatus in his depart¬ 
ment is in perfect working order. If a member of the Fire 
Department is absent, appoint some one promptly to take his 
place. Do not let the Fire Department be crippled by the 
absence of its members. 

“ The best way to avoid fire loss is to prevent fire starting. 
Cleanliness is necessary everywhere; fires do ?iot start in clean 
places . Let no rubbish accumulate. Use no sawdust. 
Keep clean waste in the iron cans or tin cabinets provided 
for it, and burn all oily waste daily. Keep shaft bearings 
free from accumulations of oily dust. 

“ Men in charge of hose lines will see hose properly coiled, 
ready for instant use; that extra spanners and washers are at 
hand; that nozzles are screwed tight and everything always 
ready for service. 

“ In case of fire each department will act under its own head, 
in general charge of Mr. Redfield, Mr. Amborn or Mr. 
Reeve. Each man will take his own place and do his own 
work, not another’s. Use care with water; it often does 
more damage than fire. At night leave elevator level with 
first floor.” 

“Well done, Tim,” “I didn’t think you could do that so 
quickly, Tom,” with other words of approval, were overheard 
at an unexpected fire drill at this shop last August. The 
previous drill was made six months before, and the proprietor 
told me that the alarm would be given at twenty minutes be¬ 
fore twelve. It was done, and instantly men appeared every¬ 
where, clambering up the ladders to close the outer shutters, 
shutting all the windows, pulling out seventeen lines of hose 
and then manning each, everything in complete readiness 
for a fire. This, however, was the significant part—within 
five minutes from the signal all the apparatus had been put 
away and each man was at work in the shop, as energeti¬ 
cally as if there had been no interruption, and he did not 
know that the whistle would blow again fifteen minutes later 
for the noon hour. This is one of many illustrations, show- 
ing that consideration and kindness to wage earners do 
pay, and that they have a commercial value. No amount of 


THE LUDLOW MANUFACTURING COMPANY 

LUDLOW, MASSACHUSETTS 



THE VILLAGE GREEN 





















% 
















1 


/- 



INDUSTRIAL BETTERMENT. 


17 


money could buy such intelligence and loyalty as was shown 
at this fire drill, but it was secured by the knowledge on the 
part of the employees that they were regarded and treated 
by the firm as men and not as hands. The firm gains in the 
fact that the risk of serious damage of fire is minimized, and 
it has also the full working efficiency of the men at the bench 
and at the forge. Thus the identity of interest is shown 
and maintained. 

The A. B. Chase Company, Norwalk, Ohio, provide a 
waiting room adjoining their office, which, in addition to being 
supplied with magazines and papers for a reading room, has 
tables and desks, writing paper, pens and ink for the free use 
of their employees. 


HYGIENE. 

It would seem as if no necessity existed for any discussion 
of hygiene in connection with Industrial Betterment,—that it 
could be assumed that every employer provided for the 
health of his staff as a matter of course, as a business propo¬ 
sition, that a healthy workman can do more and better work 
than one whose physical system does not respond to reason¬ 
able demands. The Sherwin-Williams Company of Cleve¬ 
land, Ohio, were persuaded that a certain amount of sickness 
among their staff was due to the drinking water in their fac¬ 
tory. They said that the above was a preventible cause, and 
accordingly fitted up, at considerable expense, a plant for 
filtering all the drinking water in the factory. 

The Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company give standing or¬ 
ders that whenever it is cold, hot coffee is to be served to 
motormen and conductors. If coffee was not provided, it is a 
reasonable assumption that some of these men would use 
alcoholic stimulants, with potential danger to the safety of the 
traveling public and the tenure of the positions of the delin¬ 
quents with the Company. 

The Siegel-Cooper Company employ a physician, at the 


i8 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS. 


call of employees at all hours of the day and night. His 
office hours at the store are from io a. m. to 12 noon. 

The Bibb Mfg. Co., of Macon, Ga., employ a physician 
whose duty it is to attend all their operatives without cost. 
They state that the mortality among the families is less than 
when they employed physicians promiscuously. This system 
is very satisfactory to the firm and more than repays them 
for the cost. I find that a number of employers provide rest 
rooms for their staff, where any of the girls and women who 
are indisposed may retire and have any needed medical at¬ 
tendance. They are generally fitted up with couches, easy 
chairs and in one instance are provided with necessary 
simples and what to do till the doctor comes. 

HOT COFFEE. 

One day Mr. J. H. Patterson, President of the National 
Cash Register Company, passing through his factory about 
twenty minutes to twelve o’clock, observed a girl leave her 
work bench with a pail, which she put on the radiator. Call¬ 
ing the forewoman he asked why the girl warmed the glue on 
the radiator and not in the usual place. “Glue?” said the 
forewoman, “ That isn’t glue, that’s coffee.” On learning this 
fact he was impressed in the first instance by the loss of time 
to him, caused by the girl leaving her work bench twenty 
minutes before twelve o’clock ; and secondly, he said to him¬ 
self that it must be a pretty poor apology for coffee if it was 
saved over from breakfast and warmed up on a radiator. On 
reflection he decided that it would be a saving to him of time 
and money, as well as beneficial to the girls, for him to pro¬ 
vide hot coffee at the Company’s expense. This experiment 
gave so much mutual satisfaction that he next made a few 
dietary studies of the kind of food which the girls brought 
and the way in which it was prepared. He found in many 
instances that there was not enough food and that it was of 
poor quality. Frequently the food was spoiled in the cook- 


INDUSTRIAL BETTERMENT. 


19 


ing. Continuing his reflection, he observed to himself, “ If my 
operatives have insufficient or poorly cooked food they are 
not able to do a full day’s work.” Then he decided that it 
would be a saving of money for the Company to provide a 
warm mid-day meal. An attic in the factory which had served 
as a kind of store room was cleaned out, large windows put 
in, and the room freshly painted in cheery colors and fitted up 
with small circular tables. Now the girls have a dining room 
flooded with sunshine and good cheer, where a meal consist¬ 
ing of soup, meat, one vegetable, plenty of bread and butter, 
tea or coffee and one dessert is provided at the expense of 
the Company. The girls take turns in waiting on each other. 
The expense to the Company of the dinner, exclusive of the 
preparation of the food, is about 4 y 2 cents a day for each in¬ 
dividual. Mr. Patterson states that under no circumstances 
would he return to the old conditions, being convinced that 
the expense of providing sufficient well cooked food under 
hygienic conditions and surroundings has been more than 
offset by the increased amount of work in the departments 
where the girls are employed. 

THE CASINO. 

The knowledge on the part of the President of another 
company employing eleven hundred people, that those who 
lived some distance from the works were obliged to bring their 
lunches, which were eaten cold at the work bench, caused him to 
reflect that a change from the work room to a light, airy, 
comfortable place would be highly beneficial. Then if this 
place could be fitted up with tables and chairs so that the 
lunch could be eaten in comfortable surroundings, and better 
still, if a hot dinner could be served, the men would greatly 
gain in health and contentment. From this modest provision 
for the comfort of his men at their noon hour, his original 
purpose was expanded to such an extent that when com¬ 
pleted his men received a Casino, an industrial club house, 


20 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS. 


fully equipped. The main hall, 59 x 32 ft., is the dining room 
where those who bring their lunches may eat them ; adjoin¬ 
ing is a room 14 x 15 for the women employees. In the same 
building the President has a dining room where the officers 
of the Company and guests are entertained. This establish¬ 
ment, The Gorham Manufacturing Company, (silversmiths) 
Providence, R. I., has installed a chef at the Casino. The 
prices charged the operatives are very low ; coffee, tea, milk 
or sandwiches cost three cents each. All prices are in mul¬ 
tiples of three. The number of tickets sold for the months 
of October, November and December, 1899, was several 
thousand. 

A FACTORY RESTAURANT. 

A restaurant was provided for the employees of the Cleve¬ 
land Hardware Company, who felt the necessity for doing 
something for their employees. The start was made in clean¬ 
ing up their factory, which had always been kept fairly clean, 
because it was absolutely necessary to add more machinery 
in the departments but there was no place to put it and no 
room to increase the size of the building. By going over the 
ground very thoroughly, it was found that by keeping all of 
the material in perfect order, more room could be gained. 
The conclusion was then forced upon the firm that it was 
money in their pockets to keep the plant just as clean as pos¬ 
sible. Then came the decision to provide a restaurant, but 
the great obstacle was the lack of room. The factory was 
crowded, and every available corner was utilized for the man¬ 
ufacture of goods. However, there was a small room which 
had formerly been used for an office, between two factory 
buildings, filling up a portion of a light well. This room 
measured about 9x9. There the kitchen was started, with a 
gas stove. At first coffee and sandwiches were sold. Ex¬ 
tension was very soon necessary ; the old kitchen was aban¬ 
doned and is now used as a serving room. The new kitchen is 
extended down the light well about forty or fifty feet, and 


INDUSTRIAL BETTERMENT. 


21 


measures about 7 x 50, being right in between the rolling 
mill building and factory. It was impossible to provide any 
room for the men to eat in, but this was overcome by giving 
each set of six men or more a folding table, which they 
keep in different corners of the factory, some hanging them 
on the wall and some standing them up behind machines and 
benches. Any set of six men is allowed these tables, and 
appoints one monitor, but he must not be a man that runs a 
machine. This monitor can take the order from the other 
men, and is allowed to take their baskets to the kitchen with 
their order at eleven o’clock, and these baskets are packed 
in order. The monitor is then allowed to stop work 
five minutes before the whistle blows, come to the 
kitchen, and take the basket to wherever the group has lo¬ 
cated its table. In this way the great rush at the window as 
soon as the whistle blows is avoided. All those that do not 
form sets then come up to the window and receive whatever 
they order. Four hundred men are served on the day turn, 
and as a rule, the serving is finished in about ten minutes 
after the whistle blows. 

One of the first obstacles was the dishwashing, but this was 
overcome by supplying each man with a small porcelain cov¬ 
ered pail, for whose care he is responsible. 

Little cupboards, divided like cup cases in a barber shop, 
are set up in the rooms, so that each man has his own com¬ 
partment. At the start two ten-gallon coffee urns were 
thought essential and were provided at a cost of twenty-nine 
dollars each. They are very nice as an ornament, but when 
a man is serving from fifty to sixty gallons of coffee, time is 
too important to wait for it to run out of a faucet. Two ten- 
gallon cans are now used, which cost three and one half dol¬ 
lars apiece. A dipper is used in serving the coffee. At the 
start there was a gas stove, but a hotel range, the most ex¬ 
pensive part of the outfit, was put in at a cost of ninety-five 
dollars. Aside from this, the furnishings are simply pots 
and pans of different descriptions, which would probably run 


22 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS. 


the expense up to another hundred dollars. A pint of coffee 
is sold for one cent, but at a loss, as the best of coffee is 
bought and served with cream. If boiled milk was used and 
a cheaper grade of coffee, it could be sold for one cent a 
pint. The balance of the bill of fare is as follows : Sand¬ 
wiches, all kinds, 2c. each; Hamburg steak, i slice of bread, 
2c. ; pork sausage, i slice of bread, 2c. ; pork and beans, i 
slice of bread, 3c. ; half dozen crackers and cheese, 2c. ; pie, 
all kinds, 3c. per cut; tablespoonful of mashed potatoes, ic. ; 
cooked meats, 1 slice of bread, 6c. ; puddings, 3c. ; oyster 
soup (on Friday), 5c. per plate ; other soups, 2c. and 3c. 

On some of these items there is a small profit, to cover 
waste. A 12c. pie is cut into five pieces; the Hamburg 
steaks measure about two inches across. The different ar¬ 
ticles are served on a paper plate, and with them, a piece of 
bread. 

The head cook is rather a high priced man, because he is 
so experienced that he can take the entire management on 
his own shoulders. He is paid $2.50 a day. A girl is paid 
$3.50 a week ; these two are on the day turn. They come to 
the factory at about seven in the morning and stay until four 
in the afternoon. The night man comes on at half-past five 
and stays until four in the morning; this man is paid $1.50 a 
day, the price for an ordinary cook. 

The problem of lunching was very troublesome. Many of 
the men come away from home in a hurry, without breakfast, 
and they were lunching about all morning. This seemed al¬ 
most impossible to stop. When the restaurant was started, 
the plan of shutting down the entire plant for about fifteen 
minutes and allowing the men to lunch was considered, but 
it was abandoned, on account of the large numbers, as it was 
impossible to serve them in that time. Now luncheon is al¬ 
lowed from 8:30 to 9:30 in the morning ; during that hour 
any man is allowed to leave his work and go to the restaur¬ 
ant, purchase what he wants and eat it. A notice was put 
up that the men should not congregate around the restaur- 


INDUSTRIAL BETTERMENT. 


23 


ant, nor should five or six men shut down their machines at 
one time. This plan has not been abused by the men. The 
superintendent states that during that hour 250 to 300 men 
are served, and he never has seen more than four or five men 
at the kitchen window at one time. There are five different 
departments in this factory. The superintendent also states 
that the restaurant pays, and they would not think of giving 
it up. They believe that a restaurant can be run so as to 
pay all expenses at the prices given ; but they also consider 
that they can afford to pay a little bonus to run this, as they 
are certain that it is a paying investment. The office people 
also eat at the works. It was found that it was something of 
a nuisance to have them eating in their offices, so a small din¬ 
ing room was built for them. On account of the scarcity of 
room this was built on top of some of the warehouse bins ; it 
is not an elegant affair but answers the purpose. 

LAVATORIES AND BATHS. 

The Walker & Pratt Mfg. Co., (stoves and ranges) ot 
Boston, believe that care for the comfort of their employees 
is dictated by sound business, as well as humanitarian, con¬ 
siderations. They find that workmen in a comfortable, well 
lighted building will do more and better work. They can 
also secure a better class of workmen when they consider 
the men’s comfort and welfare. 

Foundry work is necessarily very dirty, but this firm de¬ 
cided that each one of their workmen may go home clean, 
hence self-respecting. In the sanitary appliances it was the 
design that they should be convenient, easily kept clean and 
repaired with the least delay and effort. 

The regular set bowl of the plumber, with its wiped joints 
on outlet and overflow, is dispensed with entirely. Two sub¬ 
stantial cast-iron standards have a plain rectangular slab of 
iron bolted to them on each side, while central posts support 
a wooden frame which carries mirrors and a shelf for other 


24 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS. 


toilet necessaries. The wash-bowls are of cast-iron, made in 
the works and covered with white enamel. Lugs on the un¬ 
der side slip over the longitudinal bar and support the bowl 
without other fastening. A trough of sheet copper beneath 
receives the discharge from the bowls and carries it to the 
outlet at one end, where it falls into a covered gutter in the 
concrete floor. Thus the whole apparatus is open to inspec¬ 
tion and cleaning. Over each bowl is a hot and cold water 
faucet attached directly to the iron pipe system, so that no 
plumbing work was required even here. The water pipe 
system, moreover, is entirely independent of the frame which 
supports the bowls, so that there is no chance of strains and 
leaks in the pipe from any movement of the latter. We 
may add that soap powder canisters are secured to each 
bowl, a wrinkle of neatness which anyone who has seen a 
cake of soap in a factory washroom can appreciate. 

At this same establishment each molder has his individual 
bathing compartment in a room 105 x 35 feet. The entire 
floor is covered with concrete, the water draining to a cov¬ 
ered central gutter. The workman stands on a movable 
wooden grating. Each bathing compartment, 3x5 feet, 
contains hot and cold water faucets, a seat, a pail, and hooks 
for clothing, while a locker fitted with a Yale lock enables the 
man to have his ordinary clothing and valuables in security. 
Overhead incandescent lamps furnish light, and steam pipes 
keep the room comfortably warm; white paint has been freely 
used on all the fixtures. One man is in charge of bath and 
washrooms, so that everything is kept neat and orderly. He 
has some time left for odd jobs in other parts of the works. 

Nearly all the buildings have continuous windows with 
brick walls up to the window sills, thus insuring the max¬ 
imum amount of light. The area of glass, including the 
warehouse and storage buildings, is nearly one quarter the 
floor area, while in the molding shop, partially lighted by sky¬ 
lights, the area is thirty-five per cent of the floor area. In 
the molding shop a large proportion of the glass surface is 


NATIONAL CASH 
REGISTER COMPANY 

DAYTON, OHIO 
U. S. A. 


ADVANCE DEPARTMENT. 


Clubs, Schools and Societies Connected with the National Cash 
Register Company, with Headquarters at 

The N. C. R. House. 



N. C. R. House of Usefulness for South Park. 



Corner of Cooking School for Young 
Women of the Factory. 



A Traveling Library in the Factor}'. 



Educational and Industrial. 

N. 0. R. Kindergarten for South Park (100 pupils). 
Daily, except Saturday, 9 a. m. 

N. C. R. Library (South Park Branch of Public Li¬ 
brary). Open daily, 12 m. to 9 p. m. 

N. C. R. Advance Club. Advance Club Hall. 

N. C. R. Industrial School for Girls (125 pupils). 
Saturday,9:30 a. m. 

N. C. R. Cooking Classes for Young Women of the 
Factory (32 members). Monday and Friday, 
5:30 p. m. 

N. C. R. Cooking Classes for Girls of South Park 
(40 members). Wednesday, 7 p. m., and Satur¬ 
day, 2 P. M. 

N. C. R. Sewing Classes for Young Women of the 
Factory (39 members). Tuesday, 5:30 p. m. 

N. C. R. Millinery Class for Young Women of the 
Factory (17 members). Friday, 5:30 p. st. 

N. C. R. Embroidery Class for Young Women (104 
members). Wednesdas', 5:30 p. m. 

N. C. R. Boys’ Gardens (43 boys). South of Factory 
Buildings. 

N. C. R. National Penny Bank (office in Library 
Room). Open daily. 

Literary and Social. 

Woman’s Century Club (200 members). Advance 
Club Hall, first and third Wednesdays of each 
month, 12:30 p. m. 

N. C. It. Progress Club (400 men). N. C. R. Hall, 
every alternate Wednesday, 7:30 p.m. 

South Park Girls’ Literary Club (114 members). 
N. C. R. House, every Monday, 7 p. m. 

N. C. R. Boys’ Club (125 members). N. C. R. House, 
every Tuesday, 7 p. m. 

Woman’s Guild of South Park (93 members). Thurs¬ 
day, 3 P. M. 

N. C. R. Kindergarten Association (50 members). 
Monthly. 

Young People’s Literary Club. Thursday. 7:30 p. m. 

Municipal. 

South Park Improvement Association (200 citizens 
enrolled). Meets at call of president. 

Oakwood Improvement Association (30 citizens en¬ 
rolled). Meets at call of president. 

Musical. 

N. C. R. Band and Orchestra (20 members). Mon¬ 
day, 7:30 p. M. 

N. C. R. Sunday-School Orchestra (8 members). 
Sunday, 2:30 p. m. 

N. C. R. Janitors’ Glee Club (24 members). Monday, 
7:30 p. m. 

Religious. 

N. C. R. Sunday School (600 enrolled). Every Sun¬ 
day, 2 :30 p.m. 

South Park Teachers’ Association (25 members). 
Every Friday, 7:30 p. m. 

Miscellaneous. 

N. C. R. Boys’ Brigade (100 enrolled). Members of 
N. C. R. Boys’ Club. 

N. C. R. Relief Association (1,100 paying members). 
Directors’ meeting every Tuesday, 12:30 p. m. 

N. C. R. Girls’ Gymnasium Class. Every Satur¬ 
day, 4 p. M. 

N. C. R. Boys’ Gymnasium Class. Every Satur¬ 
day, 2 P. M. 

The N. C. R. House Extension. 

N. C. R. Kindergarten for Rubicon (30 pupils). 

Boys’ Club, Girls’ Club, Mothers’ Association, Read¬ 
ing Room, open to residents of Rubicon. 


N. C. R House Extension fur Rubicon. 



























































INDUSTRIAL BETTERMENT. 


25 


on the north side, thus affording a soft and well diffused light 
and avoiding the intense glare of sunlight. 

Instead of painting the trusses and structural iron work in¬ 
side the buildings the conventional “foundry red/’ the color 
is a light buff. The roof is painted inside with water paint. 

A CLEVELAND FACTORY RESTAURANT. 

What I consider a unique idea is being worked out by 
the Sherwin-Williams Company, paint and color makers in 
Cleveland, Ohio, who wished to make their factory and every 
department as clean as possible and have their employees ob¬ 
serve strict cleanliness. In most factories slight provision is 
made for a sufficient number of towels, or facilities for 
washing them, so this Company decided to make enforced 
rules for washing. In order to do this a large number of 
towels were needed, the laundering of which could be more 
cheaply and conveniently done in their own establishment. 

Under the present rules, towels have to be changed at cer¬ 
tain stated periods, and the fact that clean towels are so often 
provided is a great stimulus to employees in using them. At 
the factory laundry are also laundered the table linens and 
aprons used in the lunch rooms and factory. The Company 
also provide bath and wash rooms. It was impossible in an 
establishment of this size to give either the office or factory 
employees a very long period in the middle of the day for 
luncheon. They therefore brought cold lunches, eating them 
in the shops and warehouses—in fact, wherever they hap¬ 
pened to be. The firm decided to better this condition of 
affairs, and converted two floors into lunch rooms. At 
first it was thought that it would be enough to provide 
a clean and suitable place where they might eat the 
lunches which they had brought, but it was very soon 
found advisable to provide a kitchen where hot meals 
should be served. Each day a cup of tea or coffee 
and one hot dish, either soup or stew, is served free. 


26 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS. 


There is always a selection of extras sold at cost for those 
who do not care to bring their own luncheon or wish to sup¬ 
plement what they have brought. The men appoint waiters 
from their own number, one for each table, serving for a 
week at a time. The free courses are : Monday, beef stew ; 
Tuesday, barley soup ; Wednesday, baked beans ; Thursday, 
vegetable soup ; Friday, oysters, fish or chowder ; Saturday, 
pea soup. Charges are made for extras. Not only do the 
employees have wholesome and appetizing food under pleas¬ 
ant surroundings, but they become acquainted with each other, 
and a feeling of good fellowship results. The president and 
officers take their meals at the lunch room, and the traveling 
representatives find here a relief from the usual hotel and 
restaurant fare. The chef, Uncle Eli, had been twenty-seven 
years at one restaurant, where he had made a famous reputa¬ 
tion with the gourmets of the town. He has two assistants 
for the manual part, but he personally attends to the cook¬ 
ing. There are so many employees that they cannot all be 
served at the first table. There is no formality at the meals, 
but on the other hand there is no rudeness. The men appre¬ 
ciate what is done for them and accept it with entire self-re¬ 
spect. 

At the Ferris Bros., in their Newark, New Jersey, factory, 
where they employ 400 women and girls, bath tubs are pro¬ 
vided in the factory with hot or cold water, towels and soap. 
Oak finishings, nickel plated trimmings, rugs and first class 
sanitary arrangements make the rooms bright and clean. 
Each employee is allowed thirty minutes for a bath at the ex¬ 
pense of the company. 

Each workshop is the size of an entire floor, so that the 
light comes from four sides through very large windows. 
White curtains at every window give the factory a home-like 
appearance, which is still further brightened by potted plants 
furnished and cared for by the girls. 

In the various rooms the company provides hot and cold 
water, mirrors, towels and soap. Over each wash basin is 


INDUSTRIAL BETTERMENT. 


27 


this request, “ Please help with your forethought to keep 
things clean and nice. Any attention will oblige, (signed) 
Ferris Brothers.” An hour is allowed at noon, and all are ex¬ 
pected to begin work promptly at one. Girls living at a dis¬ 
tance from the factory are allowed to leave a few minutes be¬ 
fore twelve o’clock. A room comfortably furnished is pro¬ 
vided for those who lunch in the building. Every day tea 
with milk and sugar is provided free by the firm, and oat¬ 
meal twice a week. Soup can be bought at three cents a 
bowl. In comparison with the overworked, round-shouldered, 
anxious-faced girls of the ordinary factory, these employees 
are trim, tidy, cheerful-looking, with bright eyes and rosy 
cheeks. 


MONTHLY VACATION. 

Among the most unique and commendable movements is 
that practiced at the dry goods house of A. T. Lewis & Son, 
Denver, Colo., where two days in each month are allowed 
women in their employ, with pay, at the time when nature 
demands rest and quiet. This two days’ vacation is given only 
at these times and for the purpose implied. It is the testi¬ 
mony of this firm that the general health of the women is very 
greatly benefited ; and although the cost to them during the 
year amounts to several thousands of dollars, the additional 
efficiency of the workers and their appreciation of the partic¬ 
ular privilege fully offsets the cost. It may be stated that this 
measure was adopted at the suggestion of Mrs. A. D. Lewis. 

FACTORY PUBLICATIONS. 

Employers are discovering the advantage of what might be 
called indirect education—that is, teaching outside of classes 
and text-books. Whatever takes the employee into the con¬ 
fidence of the employer is of great mutual advantage. One 
illustration of this is the “ Chameleon,” a monthly published 
by the Sherwin Williams Company, of Cleveland, Ohio, for 
their staff and employees. 


28 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS. 


This firm considers that enthusiasm on the part of their 
employees is so much capital ; the Chameleon is in no sense 
an advertising medium. It contains articles from the heads 
of the various departments, notes and news of interest, com¬ 
ments by visitors and whatever else will tend to bring the 
branches of the business and staff into co-operative relation¬ 
ship. 

F. A. Brownell, of Rochester, New York, publishes monthly 
the “ Bulletin,” as a means of communication between him 
and his employees. A monthly publication of the same name 
is issued by the Eastman Kodak Company for a similar pur¬ 
pose. The “ N. C. R.” is a bi-monthly published by the Pat¬ 
terson Bros., of Dayton. 

These publications contain a great many items devoted to 
the commercial and the industrial side of the business, but 
the pages also relate the impressions of others regarding the 
social work at the factory, and bits of information regarding 
industrial betterment at other factories. A few pages will 
discuss points of hygiene and make suggestions of home 
improvement. In this way, the wage earners do not feel 
that they are merely cogs in the industrial machine, but 
are credited with human intelligence. Several establishments 
have one or more bulletins for the public posting of items of 
personal interest to the employees, and brief statements re¬ 
garding distinguished persons who may have visited the 
plant. 

Education by means of books is rather universal, employ¬ 
ers contributing generously to the support of public li¬ 
braries. In the case of the public library there is no means 
of arousing a desire for reading, except by the conventional 
methods, that is, of having the people go to the library. At 
the National Cash Register Co., the library is brought to the 
men, by means of the traveling plan. At noon, a case of 
books and magazines is wheeled about to different parts of 
the factory, for the sake of supplying reading matter to those 
workers who have chanced to spend the noon hour in the fac- 


INDUSTRIAL BETTERMENT. 


2 9 


tory. This traveling library has been the means of arousing 
a desire for reading, which desire receives continual stimulus 
in the fact that a small building just opposite the factory is a 
branch station of the public library at the city. 

AN OFFICERS’ CLUB. 

Whatever increases the individual worker’s store of prac¬ 
tical technical knowledge makes him of more value to him¬ 
self and to his employer. The more he knows of his par¬ 
ticular line of work, the more sure he is of holding his pres¬ 
ent position. His employer is also desirous that he should 
remain, for able and honest men are at a premium. The 
complexity of modern machinery and the delicacy of its op¬ 
eration are demanding workers of a high degree of intelli¬ 
gence, so that they may respond to the increasing demands 
upon their knowledge. Not only is education in the special¬ 
ized industry of value, but every opportunity is now being af¬ 
forded for training in the school of common sense, whose diplo¬ 
mas are based on individual tact and discretion—what the man 
in the street calls “horse sense.” In illustration of the point 
is the Officers’ Club at the National Cash Register Company, 
where twenty-five men from the different departments meet 
for dinner each day at the expense of the company. It 
nearly always happens that some guest is present or some 
local celebrity. The primary object of the reunion is social, 
but to my mind this purpose is far outweighed by the educa¬ 
tional, whereby the men come in touch with others from the 
outside, getting new ideas, new points, which cannot fail to 
enlarge their mental and industrial horizon. 

In the early part of the century the Sunday School was a 
large educational factor in the community, many of the mem¬ 
bers learning to read and write there. An interesting re¬ 
versal to type in many respects is the Factory Sunday School 
at the same company. The large hall is utilized for the 
opening exercises, which are like those of the usual school. 
Many a school has so-called lesson papers which are about as 


30 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS. 


uninteresting for children as can be imagined. Here the 
Advance Department of the factory prepares the papers, 
which are entitled “ Pleasant Sunday Afternoons.” They are 
made as attractive as possible by good press work and illus¬ 
trations. Prizes will be awarded at the end of the year for 
the best kept set of papers. A large place in each session 
of the school is made for practical talks and hints that will 
help the people in the daily life, in the home, the street and 
the city. One Sunday a talk was given by a city dentist on 
the hygiene of the teeth. Mr. Patterson has a collection of 
nearly 7000 lantern slides which he uses in the school to 
teach art, history, travel, the sanitation of the home, personal 
hygiene ; just what the wage earner is interested in know¬ 
ing, will help him to make more of life. Each spring thou¬ 
sands of flower seeds are distributed to the children, who 
plant and watch them, being stimulated to do their best by 
generous prizes for the best kept back yards, fences and 
window boxes. The great difficulty in this, as in other Sun¬ 
day Schools, is to secure teachers. At this Factory Sunday 
School the following device was hit upon. Each class has a 
leader, and the members are requested to bring a quotation, 
which is read and commented on by the one who brought it; 
then by vote of the class, the best quotation for the day is 
put in the class scrap-book. Towards the close of the ses¬ 
sion, the selected quotations from the classes are read, and 
by the vote of the school the best one is put in the school 
scrap-book. This is practically an automatic teacher. This 
last summer the sessions of the school were held in the 
grove of the old homestead of the firm. 

One Sunday afternoon lantern slides were used to illus¬ 
trate and explain the regular lesson for the day. Mr. Patter¬ 
son then asked the children what other subjects they would 
like to have taught and they replied, “ cooking, carpentry, 
wood carving, stenography and molding, etc., etc.” 

They were shown that the basement of the schools should 
be provided with baths for the use of the children in the day 


INDUSTRIAL BETTERMENT. 


3 1 


time and their parents at night. Attention was called to the 
importance of securing a certain lot, occupied by infirmary 
buildings and adjoining the Wyoming Street school-house, 
which the city was about to abandon and sell. The lot is 
large enough for a cooking-school, a manual training school, 
and in addition for gardening work such as is provided in 
France. The children were told that it was their duty to tell 
their parents to get up a petition to the city to save that lot 
for school purposes and not sell it; that it rested with the 
boys and girls of the Sunday School whether this should be 
done or not, and that they should speak to their parents in 
regard to it when they went home, and tell what they would 
like to see on the lot. Then they were shown that if they 
had training of that kind when they left school they would 
have an earning power of three or four dollars per day, in¬ 
stead of having a hard time to get work at $1.50 per day. 
It was stated that two-thirds of the people who were out 
of work during the last panic were out on account of ill 
health, and that this might be overcome by teaching pre¬ 
ventive hygiene ; and that good cooking would make 
three dollars’ worth of food go as far as six dollars’ worth 
if badly cooked ; that the whole trouble lay in bad pol¬ 
itics, for ignorant men were elected who knew nothing 
about these things, to spend our money. To illustrate, a 
story was told of the sewer which they were going to build, 
at a cost of $1,000,000, which was only stopped by sound¬ 
ing the alarm in the newspapers, but not till $60,000 had 
been spent. If that sum had been spent in the right way, 
the boys would have all these advantages. Now they haven’t 
them and must work hard always ; whereas, they might have 
had an opportunity to go across the ocean, and here pictures 
of Venice were shown, saying that if the boys were success¬ 
ful men they could visit all of these places and see strange 
sights. 


32 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS. 


A FACTORY LIBRARY. 

Application was made to the Cleveland Public Library to 
establish a station at the works of the Cleveland Hardware 
Company. It was necessary that the firm should first get 
fifteen of the men to use these privileges. A notice to this 
effect was posted in the factory, and twenty-four names were 
handed to the time-keeper within two days. The general 
superintendent then made arrangements with the library, 
and before arrangements had been completed these names 
had increased to thirty-five. The Cleveland Public Library 
then established an authorized station at the works. The 
shop carpenter made a book case out of common pine, shel¬ 
laced, with glass doors. The library then furnished any books 
called for, giving a complete assortment of different books, 
also a file and cards, and, in fact, a complete set of office ma¬ 
terials, even to pens, rubber bands, and postage stamps. Any 
man in the factory hands his name to the timekeeper, and 
tells him what class of books he wants to read, whether it is 
fiction, history, travel, or any other kind ; if there is a partic¬ 
ular book that he wants, he is furnished with an application 
card. The catalogues and lists of the library are at the fac¬ 
tory, where he can then make application for his book ; if it 
is not at the station, they telephone to the library. If it is in, 
the book is laid aside, and the factory team, which passes 
there every day, stops and gets what books are due. The 
books are collected in the office once each day and sent to 
the timekeeper’s office, to be given out to the men. Mr. 
Adams, the superintendent, is so much interested, that he per¬ 
sonally does the selecting, and he finds in most cases that the 
selection is left to him. The records and reports to the li¬ 
brary are prepared by one of the young ladies in the office. 
It generally takes Mr. Adams about one-half or three-quar¬ 
ters of an hour each noon to make the selection of books ; 
the young lady probably spends another three-quarters of an 
hour doing the other work, so that this is practically all the 


INDUSTRIAL BETTERMENT. 


33 


expense there is to the company. In December 327 books 
were circulated. At present there are 100 men using the 
library ; of this number fifteen are office people, and the 
balance are from the factory. 

The class of reading is shown by the December report: 

Biography, 7 ; Philosophy, 9 ; Religion, 1 ; Sociology, 11 ; 
History and Travel, 72 ; Science and Useful Arts, 10; Liter¬ 
ature, 4; Juvenile Fiction, 1 ; Fiction, 201 ; German, 11. 

In fiction, the books are the very best; in selecting many 
of them Mr. Adams has pursued the plan of asking different 
friends and employees in the office to go over their own pri¬ 
vate library, selecting the best books and giving him a list of 
them. These lists were sent to the library as applications for 
books. 

To increase interest in the library, the plan of obtaining a 
permanent library was begun, and to further stimulate the in¬ 
terest and the appreciation of this library, the management 
have been writing all the prominent people in the country, 
and, in fact, the world, asking them to donate one book with 
their signature on the fly-leaf, thus giving an autograph 
library. 

APPRENTICESHIP. 

There is a growing feeling among all of the better trades 
that of late years there has not been a tendency in young 
men of the rising generation towards apprenticeship and the 
consequent thorough education. Additions to the number 
of skilled workmen have been largely from abroad. It is be¬ 
lieved that this is a mistake, and that the trades of to-day 
should and do offer inducements which should attract the at¬ 
tention of many of our bright young men of artistic or me¬ 
chanical temperament. Some firms believe that the manu¬ 
facturers can do much to revive interest in the apprenticeship 
system, not upon the old, rigid lines of binding out, but upon 
a basis which would more nearly fit the condition of the boys 
who surround us. 


34 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS. 


With this end in view, the Gorham Mfg. Co., silversmiths, 
have remodeled the rules governing the education of boys in 
the twelve or more distinct trades operative in that factory. 
The new feature which has been introduced, and which has 
been received with considerable enthusiasm, is a system of 
merits or premiums, which are placed within the reach 
of every apprentice, and which are awarded at the end of 
each apprenticeship year in accordance with the marking re¬ 
ceived during that year. 

At the end of a term of successful service a certificate is 
given, which in itself would be an incentive when coupled 
with the name of a firm of more than local reputation. By 
the terms of apprenticeship, applicants must be at least six¬ 
teen years of age, but not more than eighteen, physically 
sound, of good, moral character, and have received an edu¬ 
cation equal to that obtained in the grammar schools of the 
city of Providence. 

Each candidate must serve three months as a term of trial. 
At the expiration of this period, if he has proved suited to 
the particular trade to which he desires apprenticeship, a 
formal agreement will be executed. Apprentices will, in all 
cases, serve until the anniversary of their apprenticeship fol¬ 
lowing the attainment of their majority and such time subse¬ 
quently as shall equal the entire lost time during the period 
of service. 

Lost time during an apprenticeship year shall be consid¬ 
ered as the difference between the total hours worked by an 
apprentice and the total hours that the factory is in operation 
during the same period, exclusive of overtime. A year’s ser¬ 
vice will not be considered as completed, until lost time has 
been made up. Overtime made by an apprentice will not 
shorten the year of service, but may be counted against time 
lost during the same year. 

Apprentices will be paid according to the following sched¬ 
ule : For the first year s complete service, at rate of $3.00 per 
week, for the second year, $4.00 per week, for the third year, 


INDUSTRIAL BETTERMENT. 35 

$5.00 per week, for the fourth year, $6.00 per week, for the 
fifth year, $7.00 per week. 

In addition to the above rates of payment, premiums may 
be earned by those who are diligent and efficient in their work, 
and who by their general conduct exhibit a desire to improve 
every opportunity to become expert at their trade. The pay¬ 
ment of these premiums is entirely voluntary on the part of 
the company, who reserve the right to pay the whole, a por¬ 
tion, or none at all, according to the record of the apprentice. 
The eligibility of each apprentice to the above mentioned 
premiums will be determined by a system of merits and de¬ 
merits recorded at the office of the company, and will be based 
upon the following: (a) Adaptability, (« b ) Application, ( c ) Skill 
of Perfection of Work, ( d ) Rapidity, (e) General Conduct. 

Limit of Premiums : First year, $25.00, second year, $35.00, 
third year, $50.00, fourth year, $75.00, fifth year, $100.00. 

Apprentices are required to conform to the rules and reg¬ 
ulations which have been or may be adopted for the govern¬ 
ment of the factory, and the company reserves the right in its 
sole discretion to terminate its agreement with any appren¬ 
tice, and also to discharge from its employ any apprentice for 
violation of said rules and regulations, or for persistent lack 
of industry, or improper conduct within or without the fac¬ 
tory. 

The company agrees to give faithful instruction to all ap¬ 
prentices, and furnish them with a proper certificate at the 
expiration of their period of service. 

SCHOOLS FOR STORE BOYS AND GIRLS. 

In the commercial house of Daniels & Fisher, Denver, 
there is a school which includes in its membership as far as 
possible all children under the age of eighteen. The pres¬ 
ent enrollment is thirty-eight, twenty girls and eighteen boys. 
They are divided into six divisions, and these six divisions 
united into four classes, each class reciting forty minutes. 


36 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS. 


The school opens at 8.30 and closes at 11.30 a. m., every 
day of the week except Monday. As this is a very busy day 
in the store, all school work, with the exception of one class 
of girls, is suspended. 

The course of study consists of arithmetic, United States 
history, reading, spelling, geography, and the discussion of 
current events. Each morning the teacher is furnished with 
the daily newspaper, and takes the most important topics 
which she can discuss with interest to the children, explaining 
them and answering all questions. The text books used are 
the property of the store. Each child is provided with the 
necessary books with which to prepare the lessons, and 
is allowed to take them home at night. The text books 
used are as follows : 

McMaster’s United States History, Belfield & Brook’s Ra¬ 
tional Arithmetic, Redway & Hinman’s New Natural Geog¬ 
raphy, Stepping Stones to Literature, Higher grades, Step¬ 
ping Stones to Literature, Seventh grade. 

The school room is provided with all the necessary black¬ 
boards, maps of the United States and the world and all 
other appliances. It is the idea of the proprietor of the store 
to gradually increase the usefulness of the school, and one of 
the proposed improvements is to establish a regular circulat¬ 
ing library containing books of interest to the children. 

Each Monday night from five to six the Cleveland Win¬ 
dow Glass Co. have lectures in their store, inviting all their 
employees who are interested to attend. From fifteen to 
thirty are present at these talks, which are thoroughly prac¬ 
tical in their nature. The firm states that a great deal of 
good has been accomplished, because these lectures increase 
the interest and knowledge in the business and enable the 
firm to come in closer touch with their own men and to judge 
of their capacity for business. No prizes are offered, but the 
employees are promoted as fast as they prove themselves 
worthy of it. The boys are encouraged to attend the night 
schools, and about fifteen of them have attended the Y. M. 


INDUSTRIAL BETTERMENT. 37 

C. A. classes this winter, studying chemistry, mechanical 
drawing, arithmetic, etc. 

ENTERTAINMENTS AND LECTURES. 

The League for Social Service was requested by Messrs. 
West & Simons to suggest and secure the talent for a series 
of monthly meetings, to consist of illustrated lectures on cur¬ 
rent topics, with occasional musical entertainments, for the 
1000 women and girls in their employ. They were particu¬ 
larly desirous of having the lectures illustrated, for the sake 
of educating the eye as well as the ear. This same firm 
have opened a night school, with an average attendance of 
fifty-five. Classes are started in response to the wishes of a 
number of students. For example, the last was one in me¬ 
chanical drawing. 


RECREATION. 

The general attitude of employers is quite different from 
that of one who remarked that in his business they used up 
a man every six years and then hired new ones. Men are 
saved and not used up. They are beginning to wonder what 
their employees do with their time outside of their working 
hours in the factory, how they spend their evenings, what 
kind of recreation they have and so on. They again realize 
their identity of interest, for it is far better that the employee 
uses his outside time so as to make him more ready for work 
on the morrow, rather than that he should do all sorts of 
things that will dissipate his strength, energy and moral fibre. 
Accordingly movements for recreation are of importance. 

In a visit to an industry where nearly 4000 men and boys 
were employed, the superintendent asked for suggestions. 
I made several ; among others I told him that there was no 
reason why that open lot belonging to the company just op¬ 
posite one of their shops should not be enclosed and then 
fitted up with sand pens for the little children, swings for the 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS. 


38 

older ones, a wooden shelter or a tent where the mothers 
could sit if they wished to watch their little ones, and a sim¬ 
ple outdoor gymnasium where the boys and men could come 
after their work. By that means, I said, you show your 
practical interest in the families of your own men ; you are 
doing something for them. The children in these families 
are coming into your shop in a very few years ; how much 
better for you that their bodies have been somewhat 
strengthened by exercise, and their minds disciplined by reg¬ 
ulated play. Every minute that your boys and men spend in 
such a way keeps them out of the saloon, with its possibili¬ 
ties of unfitting your employees to do a healthy day’s work 
on the morrow, whereby your business suffers. Then, too, 
the knowledge on the part of the women of the family that 
you have done this will be a conservative force, used on your 
side in the event of a strike or a disposition on the part of 
the men to any kind of action that will hurt your interests. 

Every small park, open space, outdoor gymnasium, swim¬ 
ming pool, roof play ground on the public schools, band con¬ 
cert, popular musical entertainment, is a safety valve for 
the escape of passion, discontent, unrest, all of which con¬ 
fined would become dangerous to the community. Public 
recreation should receive the heartiest support of the em¬ 
ployer ; in the first place, because it is his duty and the citi¬ 
zen’s right to have the opportunity of making the most of 
life, and recreation occupies a prominent place in this. Any 
opportunity for humanizing the individual wage earner is a 
gain for his employer. 

employees’ associations. 

Siegel-Cooper’s New York store has an employees’ asso¬ 
ciation which is a regularly incorporated association, sup¬ 
ported by a small graduated tax on the salaries of the mem¬ 
bers, entertainments and contributions by the firm. In addi¬ 
tion to the benefits of insurance, medical attendance and 


INDUSTRIAL BETTERMENT. 


39 


financial assistance, the girls enjoy at the expense of the 
company a vacation period of one week. 

The steamer Republic every Saturday morning carried 
eighty girls from the store to Long Branch. The party was 
in charge of a matron, who saw her protegees safely landed 
in the Wheeler cottage, where a week of solid, health-restor¬ 
ing enjoyment, free from all financial worry or business cares, 
was enjoyed. The girls rode bicycles, bathed in the huge salt 
water rollers, with brave, strong-armed life-savers watching 
their every motion ; experienced the delights of the gorgeous 
trolley cars that carried them to Asbury Park, or lounged 
about the well lighted and artistically arranged gardens of 
the Wheeler cottage. 

Every indoor amusement ever devised was at hand should 
inclement weather forbid outing trips. Lawn tennis and cro¬ 
quet grounds attracted the athletic girls, while dreamy ham¬ 
mocks and big, embracing, sleep-inducing chairs under the 
shade of tall trees invited tranquil rest. How the hard-work 
ing girls enjoyed this week of rest and freedom can be only 
imagined, while the strength gained and stored up against 
the fatiguing demands of the other busy fifty-one can be 
hardly overestimated. 

At the Ferris Bros, factory, Newark, N. J., in connection 
with the dressing room on the second floor is a room 116 
feet long, furnished with a piano ; this affords an opportu¬ 
nity for the girls to sing or dance during the noon hour after 
lunch. In the same room is a stock of current literature, mag¬ 
azines and periodicals, also health lifts for exercising; all of 
which are reserved for the exclusive use of the employees. 

The National Elgin Watch Co. provide a gymnasium, 
which, in addition to a fine hall devoted to athletics, amuse¬ 
ments and the like, has a fine auditorium,, in order that enter¬ 
tainments, amusements and healthful exercise may be af¬ 
forded every employee of the factory at little or no cost. 

January 4, 1900, the first of a series of annual reunions 
and banquets was given by the Gus Blass Dry Goods Co. 


40 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS. 


of Little Rock, Arkansas, to their employees, each of whom 
was privileged to bring his wife or a lady friend. The formal 
dinner was followed by a dance. 

PARKS AND PLAY GROUNDS. 

Hopedale, Mass., where the Draper Company has its 
works, had a population May ist of 1400 people. The com¬ 
pany’s pay roll numbers 2200, showing that a large number 
of people live in the adjoining towns. 

The local corporation and individuals connected with it 
represent a very large per cent, of the taxable property in 
the town, so that certain improvements—for instance the gram¬ 
mar school building, the park, the character of the schools, 
roads, and all matters calling for large expenditures—are, in 
a certain sense, governed by the local company, although not 
paid for directly by it. 

Under the Massachusetts law, in accordance with certain 
conditions, land may be set aside for parks. As to the park, 
the first appropriation in this direction as made by the town 
last summer, with the land taken, includes 140 acres, nearly 
the entire shore of the mill pond. There are three different 
places on the east side of the pond where the land runs up 
to the town road parallel with the pond, where later on road¬ 
ways connecting with the park can be easily built. This 
tract of land comprises some of the finest natural scenery in 
the town, which is included in it or can be seen from it. 
There are three very attractive groves, one of them a pine 
grove with large trees and a fine spring, making a very 
desirable place for picnics within a little over one mile from 
the center of the town. 

Six acres of the park are located diagonally opposite the 
school. This lot has been drained, plowed and fertilized for 
the purpose of a play ground for the children of the gram¬ 
mar school and the others in the town. 


GORHAM MANUFACTURING COMPANY 

(SILVERSMITHS) 


PROVIDENCE, R. I. 



Mr. Slraker 
18 '4 


iS ’2 


Mr. Sc igrave 
iS>9 


Mr. Ar thony 
i8!o 


Mr. Gardiner 


iS$o 


Mr. Robinson 
1$' 


70 4 , 


Mr. Wi 
1 S' 


fhtman 

7 


Mr. F Ilford 
1 S’ 6 


Mr W, 
18 


Smitn 

i 


Mr. M 
18 1 . 


ebster 


ason 

’4 



Mr. 


Day 


1SS0 


Mr. 


S>4 


Mr. Lyman Mr. R lodes 


18IS 


Mr. Da 


■ S$6 


Mr. Miller 
1830 


Mr. Nock 


18 5s 


8 >5 


/enpo 

S 


80’v 


Mr. P:nder Mr V. 


Mr. T. Hughes Mr. Swain 

8^4 l 4 2 

Mr. J. iVbipp Mr. All :baugh 
8^8 iS)i 


f eters 


Smith 


8)i 



Mr. I] 


iS 36 


Mr. Weaiherhead 


ansen Mr. Sylvia 

'S ?5 


8)S 


Mr. Curley 


8?a 


Mr. R. W 


*S?5 


Mr. Hu itington 


Mr. Johnso 
183 


Mr. Champney 
«. 183S 


■90S 


1839 


Mr. Crawford Mr. Briggs 

1839 iS^s 


Higgins 


Mr. Needham 
1837 



BANQUET AT THE CASINO FOR THE HEADS OF DEPARTMENTS, THE SEATS OF HONOR BEING 
OCCUPIED BY THE EMPLOYEES ACCORDING TO THE LENGTH OF TIME THAI 
THEY HAD BEEN IN THE SERVICE OF THE COMPANY. 



















INDUSTRIAL BETTERMENT. 


41 


The employees have comparatively few places whe. * ey 
can meet for their social gatherings ; the ordinary halls in the 
city have a high rental, or where low are connected with sa¬ 
loons. The Pattersons allow the use of their factory dining 
room, under certain restrictions, for social gatherings or 
dances. The Pope Bicycle Co. allow the use of one of their 
large rooms. Athletic clubs of all kinds are generally main¬ 
tained, as well as musical and social organizations. Many 
firms provide annual excursions for their staff. The Patter¬ 
sons gave all the boys in their employ, who were members 
of their clubs, the outing of two weeks in a summer camp 
near Dayton. 

CLUB BUILDINGS. 

At Elmwood, near Providence, a club-house was built by 
President Holbrook, at an expense of nearly $15,000, for 
the 1100 employees in the Gorham Manufacturing Company. 

The casino is two stories in height, of colonial architecture, 
with a sloping roof, forming broad verandas. In addition to 
the dining and lunch facilities, which have been described 
elsewhere in this monograph, is a thoroughly equipped library. 
The second story is surrounded by a wide balcony, affording 
room for additional people at the entertainments in the main 
hall. There are also sleeping rooms, bath rooms and lava¬ 
tories. Two of the sleeping apartments are reserved for the 
use of travelling salesmen or guests of the company. The 
basement contains the cycle room, with a capacity of 400 
wheels. Before that casino was built the men checked their 
wheels in an old building, each paying ten cents a week to a 
man to watch them. The new cycle room is equipped with 
numbered racks, with a man in charge. Arriving at the ca¬ 
sino the cyclist leaves his wheel with the attendant, passing 
through the cellar and out by the entrance facing the factory. 
On leaving work, he receives his wheel at the side entrance, 
making his exit by the Earl Street side. The rear of the 
basement contains a storage room and a wash room fitted 


42 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS. 


with set tubs. Adjoining this is a fully equipped bath room. 
The casino is lighted by electricity and gas, and is open at 
all times to the employees, who have the privilege free. The 
expenses of maintenance are met by the company. 


THE STEEL WORKS CLUB. 

The Steel Works Club of Joliet, Illinois, has for its mot¬ 
toes, “ Self help, Politeness toward and Consideration for each 
other.” 

This club was organized by the Illinois Steel Co., in order 
to give its employees an opportunity to help each other. 
Its object is “ the promotion of healthy recreation, social 
intercourse between members, and to afford opportunity for 
physical, intellectual and moral development.” 

The Illinois Steel Co. undertook to pay the superinten¬ 
dent, librarian, to furnish heat and light, and to keep the 
building in repair, but in addition to the expenditures 
named, they are now paying the physical director and two 
janitors. They are also meeting other expenditures, until it 
is receiving the benefit of the income from $ 200,000 of their 
capital. 

It is not enough to equip most completely a club house 
and then expect it to run automatically, but in some way a 
large measure of interest and working cooperation must be 
secured from the employees. A recent statement issued by 
the club members shows their recognition of the identity of 
interest. 

“It is but right and proper that we should show our ap¬ 
preciation of the efforts of the Illinois Steel Co., and the 
efforts of those members who are giving their time and co¬ 
operation in the interests of this club, by the members gen¬ 
erally doing something themselves for the club. It is there¬ 
fore suggested that those enjoying the privileges of the bil¬ 
liard room should devise some arrangement in order to pay 
for the re-covering of the tables and the repairs needed. 


INDUSTRIAL BETTERMENT. 


43 


“ We have opened a poll so that our members may vote for 
the books they desire bought for our library, and it is sug¬ 
gested that some arrangement should be devised so as to 
meet this expenditure. The dues of the club are not suffi¬ 
cient to enable us to pay anything towards the salary of the 
employees or the repair of billiard tables, bowling alley, or 
the purchase of new books for our library. 

“ There is no class in this club that is self-sustaining. In 
other institutions of this character, where the dues are two to 
five times the amount paid by the members of this club, 
there is an income from some parts of the institution, but 
not so with this, and we should try and overcome the loss. 
Let us go to work for our club, improve it and do some¬ 
thing for fellow members. The obligation rests upon every 
man to do something for his neighbor. You should do it for 
your fellow members of this club.” 

PART II.—THE WAGE EARNER’S HOME. 

Early in the history of the National Cash Register Com¬ 
pany, they awoke to the fact that they were losing money 
every day. Realizing that these conditions could not con¬ 
tinue, their awakening led them to investigate the causes of 
the trouble and its solution. Ignorance, indifference, lack of 
sympathy confronted them. To overcome these obstacles a 
point of contact was necessary between employer and em¬ 
ployee. A hall was engaged to afford a common ground of 
meeting, where, by means of talks, conferences and pictures, 
the employer showed them tactfully and insistently their iden¬ 
tity of interest. The key to the whole industrial situation 
Mr. Patterson stated was sympathy, and on this foundation 
he proceeded on his work of industrial and social recon¬ 
struction. In 1890, having successfully established his new 
system in his factory, he began to plan how he could help his 
people to improve conditions in their own homes. Most of 
the employees lived about the factory in a suburb of the city 
known as Slidertown, marked by ill-kept streets, unkempt 
yards, bordering on dirty alleys filled with refuse. 


44 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS. 


To-day the same people live in the same part of the city, 
but Slidertown has given place to South Park, rejuvenated 
and regenerated. On the testimony of a leading real estate 
agent in Dayton, property in this district has increased from 
thirty-three to fifty per cent. How was this change brought 
about ? The problem was to help families where moderate 
wages were earned, showing them how to use their income 
to the best advantage, and inculcating lessons of cleanliness 
and thrift, the purchase and preparation of wholesome food, 
the proper care of children, healthful recreation, and the 
beautifying of the home. 

MODEL COTTAGE. 

By way of an object lesson, Mr. Patterson set aside a cot¬ 
tage containing a parlor, bedroom, dining room, kitchen and 
bathroom ; then he installed a deaconess, who made this cot¬ 
tage her home, which became a kind of social center for the 
neighborhood. It was his plan that these rooms should 
be furnished inexpensively, so that prospective couples 
would know just what they would need for the furnishings 
of their new home, and what they would cost. These rooms 
also demonstrated that the selection of wall paper of grace¬ 
ful patterns and delicate designs cost no more than the stiff 
and ugly ones, and that a carpet could be selected in har¬ 
mony with the paper and other decorations. 

From the fact that the deaconess was engaged to reside 
here, she was able to give her entire time to the direction 
and supervision of every kind of activity that might be 
brought under a department of home making and keeping. 
To get in touch with the mothers, a Guild was organized for 
the purpose of councilling and advising with them on home 
problems. Then too, the fact that they met together socially 
developed a communal feeling, and made each one feel that 
she had something to give as well as receive from others. 
Thus these conferences with the mothers made them realize 


INDUSTRIAL BETTERMENT. 


45 


their responsibilities in providing attractive homes not only 
for the children but for their parents. 

HOME KEEPING. 

Another small building on the factory grounds is used for 
practical instruction in cooking. Not only are the girls and 
women taught how to cook, but they are shown how to pur¬ 
chase food stuffs most advantageously. It has been my ob¬ 
servation that ignorance, particularly among the wage earn¬ 
ers, is largely responsible for extravagance in the purchase 
of food supplies. For this department of domestic economy 
a graduate of one of the best training schools has been en¬ 
gaged. By means of tact she rouses the interest of the 
girls and women, and then shows them by actual demonstra¬ 
tion what food values are, and how by care and preparation 
inexpensive but healthful foods can be prepared most appe- 
tizingly. Thus she proves that care in the purchase and 
preparation of wholesome food saves the family money each 
week. Instruction is also given in cooking dainty and pal¬ 
atable dishes for the sick. She also arranges the daily bill 
of fare for the officers’ club, and the mid-day dinner that is 
served at the expense of the company to the girls and women. 

boys’ VEGETABLE GARDENS. 

This same company, having noticed the success of the 
“Vacant Lot Farms” of New York, adapted the idea to 
Dayton, by setting aside a tract of land belonging to the 
company and devoting it to the boys in the families of its 
employees and any others who might apply. This tract was 
divided into small plots io by 130 feet and was called the 
Boys’ Vegetable Gardens. The landscape gardener belong¬ 
ing to the company advised the boys and instructed them in 
how to plant and care for their crops. In the summer of 


46 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS. 


1899 not only was this of great value to the community in 
keeping off the streets the boys, bent on all sorts of poten¬ 
tial mischief, but the lads received useful instruction which 
would last them all through life. There is also the possibil¬ 
ity that these boys might receive more than a passing desire 
for the cultivation of vegetables and flowers by being won 
over to a love for the cultivation of the soil rather than 
thronging into the cities already congested. Last year forty- 
three families were made happy by fresh vegetables and flow¬ 
ers brought from the Boys’ Gardens, thus saving that amount 
of money which the family would otherwise have spent for 
these same vegetables. The most ambitious utilized their 
plot several times by a succession of crops. In addition to 
all this, the boys were still farther stimulated by various 
cash prizes from $15 to $3 each, for showing the best results. 
Every bit of training inculcating a love for thrift and order 
is of value to a community, but especially so to employers 
who have come in touch with the boys, thus gaining an in¬ 
fluence over them, developing a capacity and love for work. 
Later, when the employer is looking for trustworthy young 
men to add to his working staff, he instantly thinks of the 
boys whom he has helped to train. 

The following crops are raised : Lettuce and radishes, seed 
onions, set onions, carrots, red beets, peas (two varieties), 
wax beans, green snap beans, butter beans, early cabbage, 
early dwarf potatoes, late tomatoes, potatoes, sweet corn 
(two varieties). 

Some of the ground is utilized twice. In addition to the 
above are planted celery, mangoes, squash, transplanted beets, 
cucumbers, late cabbage, second crop of sweet corn, turnips 
and two or three crops of radishes. 

John Bower won the first prize two years in succession, 
not only on the vote of the judges, but by the agreement of 
all the other boys in the competition, so completely did he 
surpass them, that there was no jealousy regarding his work. 
The garden instructor asked him to write a sketch of himself. 


INDUSTRIAL BETTERMENT. 


47 


“Dayton, Ohio, Nov. 4, 1898. 

Mr. Seitner, 

Kind Friend : 

Received your letter a few days ago and was rather 
surprised you asked my age. I was 14 years old the 4th 
of July; was born at 135 Fairground Ave., and still live 
there with my aunt and uncle ; went to school seven years 
and passed for High School, and as my uncle was out of work 
so long, my aunt could not afford to send me to High School, 
but would have liked to. I am now working at the ‘ German 
Newspaper Co.’ I can’t work myself up here because I can’t 
read German. I think the boys’ gardens is one of the best 
things there is. If they are interested it learns them how 
to work and cultivate the ground and many other things. I 
enjoyed working in my garden and think they are worth their 
weight in gold. I would like to take another garden next 
year but I am working and would be too old. You asked me 
what I do evenings ; on Tuesday I go to the ‘ Club,’ and 
Wednesday I go to drill. Other evenings I generally go to 
the N. C. R. Library and read awhile or else stay at home. 
On Sunday I go to Sunday School in the morning, and in the 
afternoon I go to the N. C. R. Sunday School. Among the 
books I have read are ‘ Travel in Europe,’ ‘ Life of Napoleon,’ 
‘Life of Columbus,’ ‘Gorilla Hunters,’ ‘Franklin in the 
Woods,’ ‘ Wreck of the Golden Fleece,’ ‘ King Arthur’s 
Round Table,’ and a lot of others which I can’t remember. 
I am now reading ‘Two Arrows.’ The papers I have read 
are ‘ Youth’s Companion ’ and the ‘ Young People’s 
Weekly’ and I enjoyed them very much. I have told you 
all so I will bring my letter to a close. 

Good Night, Your garden boy, John Bower. 

CHILD TRAINING. 

The N. C. R. House, or as it has been called, the house 
of usefulness, is a center for a large share in the work of 
home keeping. This manufacturer, in common with others, 
interprets the word home very broadly, and does not confine 
its efforts to its four walls. He considers that whatever he 
does to improve the father, mother or child element in the 


48 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS. 


home is important in social and industrial welfare. I find ac¬ 
cordingly that he lays especial stress on the kindergarten, 
employing three trained kindergartners. The classes meet 
in the ample rooms, where the mothers are always welcome 
to visit and inspect the work in progress. When recess 
comes the children are turned loose on the broad expanse of 
the factory lawn, where they can romp and shout to their 
heart’s delight. The kindergarten, especially in the indus¬ 
trial quarters of the community, is of immense significance to 
society, because it is the vestibule through which the child 
enters upon the acquisition of those ideas which will largely 
shape his after life. The lessons of order and neatness, the 
discipline of regulated play, the education of the eye in the 
harmony of color and the training of the ear in rhythmic 
music are acquisitions, making the child of greater value to 
himself, and, if he can follow up the good start which has 
been made for him, tending to make him of greater wage earn¬ 
ing capacity, to say nothing of the enlargement of his pow¬ 
ers of general appreciation of what is within his grasp. 

A COMMUNAL HOME. 

On the hills sloping up from the Hudson near Scarboro 
are the Briar Cliff Farms, eight thousand acres, where the 
proprietor operates model farms and dairies. For those of 
his unmarried employees who were obliged to board at var¬ 
ious places and live comparatively isolated lives, he planned 
a communal home containing seventy individual bedrooms. 
The building is one hundred feet long and four stories in 
height; the men enter a large hall, 30 x 30 feet, which, when 
not used for meetings and entertainments, serves as a smok¬ 
ing room. The high ideal embodied in this room is illus¬ 
trated by a series of striking mural mottoes : 

“God hath given thee to thyself and saith, I had none 
more worthy of trust than thee ; keep this man such as he 
was by nature, Reverent, Faithful, High, Unterrified, Un¬ 
shaken of Passion, Untroubled.” 


INDUSTRIAL BETTERMENT. 


49 


“ Speak gently—it is better far to rule by love than fear.” 

“ If a cobbler by trade, I’ll make it my pride 
The best of all cobblers to be, 

And if only a tinker, no tinker on earth 
Shall mend an old kettle like me.” 

“ Teach us to be kind before we are critical, and sympa¬ 
thetic before we condemn.” 

To the right of the hall is a large parlor and reading room, 
provided with books, newspapers, magazines and games ; to 
the left a commodious dining-room, private dining-room and 
kitchen. Upstairs, in addition to the bedrooms are hand¬ 
some bathrooms, with shower and douche baths for the use 
of the men. 

The house was opened Christmas day, 1899, Mr* Law pre¬ 
siding and remarking that he hoped that this building would 
prove a happy home for the men and would manifest the cor¬ 
dial cooperation between employer and employee at the 
farms. Additional inspiration was afforded by a quartette 
from the Briar Cliff Orchestra, organized by the employees. 

The National House, as it is called, provides accommoda¬ 
tions for one thousand operatives of the National Elgin 
Watch Co., Elgin, Ills., at dinner, and affords well furnished, 
well ventilated, steam heated rooms for several hundred 
young ladies and gentlemen who preferred such a home to 
that of boarding houses about the city. These excellent ac¬ 
commodations, both meals and rooms, at the National House 
were furnished upon a basis of cost which made a very im¬ 
portant reduction in the prices of boarding, and at the same 
time greatly improved the service received by operatives in 
every part of Elgin. 

The hotel is fitted up with all modern conveniences from 
cellar to attic in the most perfect manner, and as now com¬ 
pleted the building, or buildings, make an imposing appear¬ 
ance. Its generous proportions and its equipment will be 
better understood from the statement that the dining-room 


50 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS. 


measures forty feet in width by one hundred and fifty feet in 
length. All of the rooms are furnished with steam heat and 
every modern convenience, particular attention being given 
to ventilation. Enough rooms are provided to accommodate 
350 persons with a cosy and comfortable home within 500 
feet of the factory entrances. Besides this the hotel has 
spacious corridors, large parlors, a well-stocked library free 
to employees, and a well equipped billiard room. 

INDUSTRIAL SETTLEMENTS OR COLONIES. 

Industrial Villages or Colonies like Port Sunlight and also 
those of Essen are well known. In this country Vandergrift, 
Hopedale and Peacedale are fairly typical of the plant be¬ 
longing to the industrial question and the aggregation of 
workingmen’s houses, schools, churches, halls and club 
houses. The advantages of such settlements as the above 
result in a communal feeling and a strong neighborhood at¬ 
tachment ; the community is self contained and the identity 
of interest between employer and employee is ever present, 
particularly if the wage earners can have some share in local 
self government. 

The employees of the General Electric Light Company of 
Schenectady, N. Y., found great difficulty in obtaining com¬ 
fortable homes for themselves and families. Those available 
were poorly located and not in the best sanitary condition—in 
fact the house and surroundings were generally undesirable. 
In one instance known to the writer, a young engineer, just 
married, was offered a fine position with this company at a 
salary that was perfectly satisfactory. On going to Schenec¬ 
tady to see what arrangements he could make for securing a 
comfortable home, he found that most of the houses were 
occupied by the owners themselves. It was impossible to 
rent a house such as he wanted in a desirable location— 
in fact the prospect of securing such a home as he desired 
for his young wife was so unpromising that he decided not to 


THE LUDLOW MANUFACTURING COMPANY 

LUDLOW, MASSACHUSETTS 



ONE OF THE MILLS 





THE SCHOOL AND WAGE-EARNERS COTTAGES 




















































































































* 





*— ' 











































INDUSTRIAL BETTERMENT. 


51 


accept the position. This was a loss not only to the com¬ 
pany but to the community, the former losing a good engi¬ 
neer and the latter a good citizen. 

This company has become so large, with a pay roll of 
6000 people, that the decision was forced upon them to un¬ 
dertake the provision of suitable homes for their heads of 
departments, superintendents, clerks and foremen. They 
succeeded in purchasing a tract of seventy-nine and one- 
fourth acres in the north-eastern part of the city, accessible 
to the trolley running by the property. This tract is beau¬ 
tifully situated on high ground, well timbered, through which 
a winding stream makes its way. The grove and stream 
will be utilized by the landscape gardener for a park for the 
community. It is the company’s plan, if this colony proves 
a success, to secure other tracts and develop them for the 
rank and file of their men, who may thus be able to buy 
smaller lots and build inexpensive homes. 

LUDLOW. 

The property of Ludlow, Mass., was started originally as 
a small cotton mill in 1824. After more or less success and 
various changes of ownership, it was finally organized in 1868 
under the title of the Ludlow Manufacturing Company. 

Of the original mill buildings none remain, the oldest mill 
now existing having been built in 1878. The mills, shops, 
engine and boiler rooms contain over fourteen acres of floor 
space. The warehouses cover six acres of ground, and are 
connected with the railroad and mills by three miles of tracks 
and sidings, served by two locomotives. 

It has been the aim of the corporation to make the village 
an attractive place in which to live. Apart from philanthropic 
motives, they believed that by so doing they would be able to 
attract and keep permanently a superior class of operatives. 

The various cottage plans are the result of several years 
of careful study and experiment. Each cottage as built has 


52 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS. 


been planned to remedy some defect in a previous plan, to 
incorporate some improvement suggested, or to lessen the 
cost of construction. The tenants have been asked for criti¬ 
cisms and suggestions, which have been acted upon when 
approved. Different families have different ideas. Some 
prefer stairs opening from the kitchen, some from a front 
hall ; some wish bathrooms upstairs, others downstairs, 
etc., etc., hence a variety of plans substantially of the same 
size and cost. 

In planning these houses, the following considerations have 
been constantly in mind: economy of room ; economy in 
heating ; economy of work in care of house and children ; 
largest available amount of sunlight; economy of cost; 
simple and well proportioned outlines. 

The four room half cottage plan has been found very pop¬ 
ular for young married couples, and answers their require¬ 
ments until they have two or three children, when they 
change to a single five or six room cottage. 

When the corporation first bought the property there were 
but two streets, containing a church, a single room school 
house and a few old-fashioned tenements. During the last 
thirty years, the corporation have laid out and built three 
miles of streets, and have partly constructed a comprehen¬ 
sive scheme for sewage. They have constructed at their 
own expense the water works, gas works and electric light 
plant, lighting the village streets without charge. They own 
the church, school house, masonic hall and all except a few 
of the houses in the village. 

It was originally intended to encourage private ownership 
of cottages, but after several sales were made it was deemed 
undesirable, except for small farms outside of the village. 
While the original purchaser might be satisfactory, the pro¬ 
perty was liable soon to pass into undesirable hands, and re¬ 
strictions as to pig pens, hen yards and other nuisances, not 
having been incorporated in the deeds, could not be en- 


INDUSTRIAL BETTERMENT. 


53 


forced, as in the case of the company’s cottages. The cot¬ 
tages sold have been bought back as opportunity offered. 

Until recently all cottages were supplied with an outside 
woodshed and privy—making a most unsightly array of sen¬ 
try boxes through all the back yards of the village. In all 
the new construction, the shed is attached to the cottage and 
the privy replaced by a water closet either with or without a 
full bath room equipment. 

SCHOOLS. 

In 1878 the village contained one ungraded school with a 
single teacher. The increase of operatives in 1878 required 
two additional teachers in temporary quarters in the church 
vestry. The company then decided to build and own the 
school house. Accordingly, a school house containing six 
class rooms, a lecture hall and school parlor was built and 
rented to the town at the nominal sum of |ioo a year. 
The management had hoped to introduce instruction in cook¬ 
ing and sewing, but it was not favored by the town school 
committee. Considerable friction arose between the corpo¬ 
ration and the town authorities in regard to the management 
of the school. Finally the corporation refrained from making 
any attempts at improvements in the school work, but con¬ 
tinued to give the use of the school house, and until within 
a few years have paid a quarter of the salaries. 

The old school house has been outgrown and the corpora¬ 
tion expect soon to build a larger new one, remodelling the 
old one into a club house and institute for their employees. 
Most perfect harmony now exists between the corporation 
and the town officers, and it is believed that suggestions in 
regard to the management of the school would be wel¬ 
comed. 

In 1878 the addition of a large amount of machinery in a 
country village required the immediate construction of a 
large number of houses, and the continued growth of the 
business since has necessitated a steady increase. 


54 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS. 


COTTAGE BUILDING. 

The first houses built were planned by architects more 
with reference to outside appearance than to meet the con¬ 
ditions required by the people who were to live in them, but 
of recent years the management have made a careful study 
of the whole matter, in order to provide, at the least pos¬ 
sible cost, cottages which will meet all the requirements. 

The result of the first attempts at individual cottages 
seemed to be failures. The cottages were too expensive and 
the tenants did not take proper care of them. A number of 
old-fashioned tenement houses were then built, some with 
eight tenements to a house. These proved even more un¬ 
satisfactory than the single cottages and but few of them 
were built, another and successful attempt being made to 
introduce single houses. At the present time no houses 
are built with more than two tenements, and these only 
for the sake of securing economy in building four-room 
tenements, for newly married couples, separate front and 
rear doors being always provided. 

In 1878 the corporation fitted up a few rooms in an old 
building as a library and reading room, with a small number 
of carefully selected books. In 1888 a new library was 
erected as a memorial by the widow and children of the late 
Treasurer. This library building was given to the town 
under certain restrictions. At the same time the corporation 
presented to the town all the books belonging to their library, 
and have since paid for additions of books as well as all 
salary and maintenance expenses. 

The library now contains 3,660 volumes, and thirty-four 
magazines are to be found in the reading room. The pat¬ 
ronage is fairly satisfactory and is increasing, and the build¬ 
ing will probably continue to meet all the requirements of 
the town. 

In order to add to the attractions of the village, in 1892 a 
hall was built for the local Lodge of Masons. The upper 


INDUSTRIAL BETTERMENT. 


55 


story was arranged for their sole use and so as to suit all the 
requirements of the order, while the lower floor was ar¬ 
ranged for social gatherings of the Masons and other soci¬ 
eties or fraternities in the village. This building has been 
in constant use and is an unqualified success. 


LIBRARY. 

When the first library was started in 1878, a room fitted 
out with various small games was set apart as a smoking 
room, but it became so disorderly that after several forcible 
ejections the room was closed. During the succeeding years 
the general tone of the village improved, and in 1895 the 
attempt was again made. An unused part of a new mill was 
fitted with bowling alleys, pool tables and other games. This 
was in every way successful, but was finally closed, as the 
space was needed for mill purposes. Provided they can se¬ 
cure the interested cooperation of their employees, the cor¬ 
poration hope soon to establish a permanent and well- 
equipped club-house and working men’s institute. 

They also hope that the young men of the village will take 
such an interest in outdoor games and general athletics, as 
to warrant the laying out of a field for their use and grounds 
for match games with neighboring teams. 

The corporation have long wished to organize a brass 
band in the village, and there is now good promise of this 
being accomplished. 

The management have always felt that much good could 
be accomplished in a manufacturing village by instruction in 
cooking, and they started such a school under a teacher 
from the Boston Cooking School. Two classes were formed 
from among the wives of the overseers and leading men. 
As nearly all did their own cooking, it was decided to have 
the classes prepare a regular dinner to which each member 
could invite one guest, generally the husband. The classes 


56 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS. 


were fully appreciated, and resulted in better cooking and 
more sociability. 

The advisability of starting a corporation or cooperative 
store at Ludlow has been discussed several times, but in 
view of the competition of three stores in the village and 
easy access to a large city, it was not deemed advisable. 

A cooperative store has been suggested by the opera¬ 
tives, but has never been favored by any of their leading 
men in whom the management placed confidence, and conse¬ 
quently has never received support or encouragement. 

In the early history, an attempt was made to interest some 
of the leading men in becoming stockholders, but it did not 
prove satisfactory and the shares were bought back by the 
treasurer. While they believe that profit sharing can be 
successfully applied in many industries where skilled labor is 
the great factor, the management are not convinced that it is 
desirable where almost all the labor consists of unskilled 
machine tenders, and where the profits depend mainly on 
successful buying, selling and management, and the perfec¬ 
tion of plant and machinery. 

THE WESTINGHOUSE AIR BRAKE CO. 

The Westinghouse Air Brake Company, of Wilmerding, 
Penn., where their works are located, purchased a tract of 
land adjoining the factory. It was their thought to give 
each employee an opportunity of owning his own house 
and lot. This tract was divided into lots, which were 
sold at cost. There was a ready response from the 
employees. To assist the men still farther, the company 
undertook to build their houses. By means of large con¬ 
tracts, at cash prices, it was estimated that the employee 
saved from $300 to $500 on his house, the company giving 
them this extra advantage. 

Furthermore, the payment for the house and lot was 
spread over a term of ten years, or 120 equal monthly 


THE WESTINGHOUSE AIR BRAKE COMPANY 

WILMERDING, PENNSYLVANIA 



GENERAL VIEW OF THE INDUSTRIAL TOWN OF WILMERDING 



IMPROVED HOUSES FOR THE EMPLOYEES 



























INDUSTRIAL BETTERMENT. 


57 


payments in the nature of rent, based on the purchase price. 
The monthly payment included interest and life insurance 
premiums on a policy to clear the property in case of the 
purchaser’s death. On the fulfillment of the above condi¬ 
tions, the company agreed to deed the property free of in¬ 
cumbrance. 

The company also agreed, on the payment of 70 per cent, 
of the original value of the property by the purchaser, to 
deed the same to him and accept a first mortgage as security 
for the balance. 

The life insurance feature protected both the employer 
and employee, for the policy was taken out in the name of 
the company. As the payments ceased at death, the policy 
cancelled the expense of the house to the company, and the 
deceased’s beneficiaries received the deed free to the 
property. 

Interest at the rate of five per cent, for average time was 
allowed any one who might desire to anticipate payments, 
thus encouraging the thrifty. The lots were 40 ft. in width 
and from 100 to 200 ft. in depth. 

The most expensive house with lot cost $3775, and con¬ 
sisted of a parlor, dining room, kitchen and hall on the 
ground floor, with four bed rooms and bath upstairs. The 
lowest price house and lot was $ 2100. There is a parlor, 
dining room and kitchen, with two large bed rooms on the 
second story. 

Seventy-five houses were built in accordance with the plan 
in 1890, and thirty-six of these are now owned by the orig¬ 
inal purchasers. The business depression of ’92-93 made it 
very hard for the payments to be continued, so a modified 
plan was adopted, by means of which a mortgage was taken 
on the property at five per cent, a year, with opportunity of 
reducing the principal in quarterly payments. Up to Dec. 
30, 1899, on thirty-six houses, the principal due was $65,- 
050, but this has been reduced during the same period by 


58 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS. 


$6,057, leaving a balance of $58,993. The smallest reduc¬ 
tion of principal was $70 and the largest $600. 

Altogether the company has 106 single frame houses, 
renting from $22 to $14 a month. 

There are twenty-four double houses renting at $18 a 
month ; two rows of six houses, each renting at $16 and 
$18 a month, and four blocks of flat houses, each house con¬ 
taining two apartments, or twenty families to a block. The 
monthly rentals are $13 and $14 each, according to location. 
These flats are adjoining the works, and are very desirable 
for residences. 

Another interesting case of town development appeared 
in 1886, when the Apollo Iron & Steel Co. obtained control 
of a plant at Apollo, a small industrial town about forty 
miles from Pittsburgh. Prudence and good management 
compelled annual extension, but the firm were always at a 
disadvantage in that they could not build with a plan. The 
buildings were old, were too small, so that it was almost use¬ 
less to put in modern machinery ; however, business grew 
steadily until the issue was no longer to be dodged, “ Shall 
we re-make Apollo, or shall we begin from the very bottom 
a new town, which may be planned along lines of the most 
progressive social and industrial development? ” The latter 
course was decided on. 

In 1895 ^e new town to be known as Vandergrift consisted 
of acres of fields and meadows, beautifully situated on the 
broad sweep of the river, with a background of wooded hills. 
While the new mills were building it was imperative that 
homes for the workingmen should also be built, so that, just 
as soon as the mills were completed and in operation, the 
force could go to work without the loss of a single day. It 
was no small undertaking to house comfortably a thousand 
workingmen and their families. The company displayed 
wisdom and forethought in planning a town which should 
have the most improved system of sanitation and pure and 


INDUSTRIAL BETTERMENT. 


59 


ample water supply, paved streets and concrete sidewalks, gas 
and electricity. 

In the first place the physical basis of the town was planned 
on lines of natural beauty by Mr. H. L. Olmstead ; accord¬ 
ingly winding streets, a village green or common, frequent 
open spaces for shrubs and flowers, relieved the stiffness and 
ugliness of the ordinary town. 

A constant water supply was secured by artesian wells on 
the hills ; a complete system of sewers and drains made the 
town clean, for cleanliness means health ; the streets were 
brick paved, the sidewalks concreted and the little triangular 
spaces were planted with shrubbery. With their splendid 
water supply there is no need for wells, which are often the 
cause of malaria and typhoid fever ; in fact there are no wells. 
Then, too, each house is provided with bath room and water 
closet, doing away with unsightly outbuildings. Vandergrift 
is not merely a mill town ; nearly every man owns his own 
house, and time is devoted to taking care of its people by 
its people. 

The President, Mr. George C. McMurtry, in the course of 
conversation stated that they already had good men when 
they began Vandergrift, but they needed more. He knew of 
no way so sure for getting a steady supply of good men, 
after giving them work and paying them well, as to help them 
a little. In his judgment no other help is so wise as giving 
the men a chance to help themselves. Based on this social 
and industrial philosophy, residence lots averaging 25 x 125 
feet were offered at $750 to $1050 for inside, and $1500 to 
$2500 for corner lots. This price was based on the average 
sales in Apollo from 1890 to 1895. While these prices 
were high, it must be borne in mind that all improvements, 
viz., paved streets and sidewalks, water and gas connections 
and sewer connections made on the very lot are included 
in the initial cost. The owner, therefore, has no additional 
expense of assessments for improvements that are needed at 
uncertain periods and unknown rates, since at Vander- 


6o 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS. 


grift the only additional expense is that of the house. The 
only restriction which the deed contains is that no liquor 
shall be sold on the premises for 99 years. This experiment 
of selling land without restrictions to the employees will be 
watched with much interest, because it is contrary to the usual 
practice. 

A school with accommodations for 200 pupils was built by 
the company. A bank with a capital of $50,000 was organ¬ 
ized. A large tract in the center of the town was given for a 
village green, and a smaller tract for a hospital and a casino. 
In addition, the company was very liberal in providing for 
the spiritual and moral needs of the town by giving any re¬ 
ligious denomination the land, and by contributing half of 
$15,000, which sum was fixed as the minimum cost for con¬ 
struction of the edifice. There are now five churches in Van- 
dergrift. 

While the churches provided for a great amount of social 
intercourse, the company felt the necessity of providing for 
the larger social needs of the community, especially in the 
winter season. The casino which is just built, at an expense 
of $30,000, contains an auditorium for people, and a stage. 
In one wing of the building are the library and reading rooms, 
and in the other, rooms for the local magistrates and court 
rooms. The ground floor of one wing is used by the fire de¬ 
partment. 

About twenty miles southeast of Pittsburg in an air line, 
on Pigeon Creek, an industrial colony is now building by 
James W. Ellsworth, who has acquired a tract of some 
twelve thousand acres of coal lands. 

The development of the purely commercial side of the en¬ 
terprise led him to plan for a town or community where the 
miners might own their own homes ; accordingly a tract of 
between five and six hundred acres has been set aside for 
this purpose. While the general outlines of the plan are 
pretty well defined, they are necessarily subject in small re¬ 
spects to the determination of matters of detail, which have 


INDUSTRIAL BETTERMENT. 


6l 


not yet been taken up and settled, and which may to some 
extent call for modification of the general plan. 

The houses, however, will be of brick, one and two story, 
perfectly plain or colonial in architecture, with about a quar¬ 
ter of an acre of ground, or 75 x 130 feet, with each house. 
The house and lot will be sold to the miner at cost—taking 
into consideration life insurance, if desired, the improvement 
of streets and possibly to some extent other general ex¬ 
penses—or in the neighborhood of seven to eight hundred 
dollars, price payable as rental at the rate of about twelve 
dollars per month, with contract (which will also provide that 
every property owner is to bind himself to allow no liquor or 
alcoholic drinks to be sold on his property) that if the lessee 
retains the place for a stipulated period, so the total rental 
will cover principal and interest at six per cent, of the pur¬ 
chase price, deed is to be given. 

If it can be reasonably accomplished, it is the intention to 
have the contracts provide for a term policy of life insurance 
on husband or head of the family for such amount as will 
amply cover deferred payments, so that in case of death 
prior to the end of the contract period the family or heirs 
will own the home. 

The general plan of the town will be winding streets, mac¬ 
adam roadways twenty feet from curb to curb, four feet for 
tree planting space, and four feet for gravel walk on either 
side, or the total width of street thirty-six feet, osage hedge 
and house set back six feet from the latter, giving room for 
the planting of perennial plants. 

Two churches are to be built, Catholic and Protestant, public 
school building, with ample provision for night school; club 
house, containing library, reading room, billiards and bowl¬ 
ing alley, for which a small fee will be charged that members 
may feel a proprietary right, and an athletic field. The hos¬ 
pital and general store are to be managed on the cooperative 
plan, the profits to be divided among the miners ; however, it 
may be tound preferable to rent or sell lots to private mer- 


62 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS. 


chants. The government of the town or borough is to be in 
the hands of the property owners. 

Mr. Ellsworth states that it is his intention to provide 
every benefit with which an employee can be supplied. On 
the other hand, the cost of producing coal must be made as 
low as it can be made legitimately. He says he believes in 
those combinations of similar interests which are known as 
trusts. When these combinations are made on business 
principles and are honestly administered, the result is a great 
cheapening of the commodity produced. Then follows what 
has always followed—introduction of labor-saving devices, 
demand multiplied by cheapening the cost, and the field of 
labor widened. Every combination or trust must work for 
this end, no matter what is the class of business, if it hopes 
to succeed. 

It is a business principle which cannot be disregarded, that 
to cheapen the cost to the lowest possible fraction, having a 
due regard for a fair return on capital invested, multiplies 
the demand, and profits increase with the volume of business. 
Volume of business is the measure of real success—a small 
return per ton on a large volume of business. If these com¬ 
binations, as complained, displace employees, it shows that 
these employees are no longer necessary in that line and are 
a tax on the public. Their seeking of new opportunities 
will open new fields of industry, and a greater measure of 
prosperity will follow. 

THRIFT. 

The Ludlow Manufacturing Company, Ludlow, Mass., was 
instrumental in starting a Savings’ Bank under the State law 
in 1888. Since then they have provided the banking rooms 
free of expense, and for several years one of their clerks 
acted as treasurer. For the sake of avoiding criticism, they 
refrained from being connected in any other way with the 
management; their master machinist being the only other 


INDUSTRIAL BETTERMENT. 


63 


representative employee. The bank has been successful in 
every way. In December the deposits were more than 
$ 100,000. 

ASSOCIATION FOR THRIFT. 

What might be called the conventional method is the ben¬ 
efit association, where a certain sum is paid in each week or 
each month by the employee. In some cases a certain sum 
will be added by the firm, one of their immediate staff hav¬ 
ing the custody of the funds. It is always better when the 
organization and administration can be managed by the 
wage earners. 

The penny provident bank, as it is called, is an excellent 
method for helping the boys and girls to save their pennies, 
nickels and dimes. The capital of the bank is a certain 
amount of stamps, in denominations of ic, 2c, 3c, 5c, 10c, up 
to $5. $20 worth of the stamps is recommended for an 

initial working capital. The depositors are given a card on 
which the stamps are posted. At any time the cards are 
cashed by a return of money equal to the value of the 
stamps on the card. When the stamps amount to $5, it 
is suggested that a savings’ bank account should be opened. 

The system is equally applicable to adults, although it is 
more in use among children. By some operatives the penny 
bank is used to help them set aside small sums for the pur¬ 
chase of a ton or so of coal, rather than a bucket or a sack. 
It is a splendid system for saving small sums. 

In 1892 the Proctor and Gamble Company at Ivorydale, 
Cincinnati, Ohio, instituted a plan for loaning money to any 
employee who might wish to purchase the common stock of 
the company. The company is advised of the intention of 
the employee, and the stock is bought for him in the open 
market. A deposit of $10, at least, is made, and the dif¬ 
ference between the cost of the share and the amount he 
pays is loaned him at four per cent, per annum. He is given 
two years in which to pay his loan. One hundred of the 


6 4 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS. 


employees are stockholders in the company and own over 
a thousand shares, which at present market value amount to 
over $400,000. 

A Building Association was incorporated in August, 1887, 
with an authorized capital of $500,000. It is conducted by a 
board of nine directors, all employees of the Proctor and 
Gamble Co., and elected by the share holders of the Building 
Association. There are now 450 share holders, 390 of whom 
are simply depositors, the other sixty being borrowers upon 
real estate security. Of these sixty, thirty are employees of 
the company, who are paying for their homes in the association. 
It is estimated that since the incorporation of the association 
there have been sixty of the employees of the company that 
have obtained homes through its agency. There is $1500 
in the reserve fund, as security against contingent losses, 
of which in the history of this association there have 
been none. Some of the members of the association, em¬ 
ployees of the Proctor and Gamble Co., have as much as 
$2000 deposited to their credit. Many others use the asso¬ 
ciation to accumulate savings, in order to pay for stock of 
the Proctor and Gamble Co., which they have bought and 
are paying for by installments. 

A pension fund, one-half of which is contributed by the 
company and one-half by the employees, enables any of them 
disabled by ill health, old age or accident to secure a pension. 
At present there is only one pensioner, who is unable by reason 
of disability to earn full wages. The pension fund accord- 
ingly pays the difference between the former wages and that 
which he now receives. In addition to this any shares of 
profit sharing dividends refused employees on account of 
their carelessness, misconduct or lack of interest are turned 
into the pension fund. 

At the Ferris Bros., Newark, N. J., Friday is pay day. 
By this means the families have the benefits of the Saturday 
markets, being able to buy with cash instead of on credit. 


INDUSTRIAL BETTERMENT. 


65 


Among the institutions for promoting thrift are benefit or 
mutual aid associations. The general principle of them all is 
the same, with variations necessary to local adaptations ; as 
a typical association, that of J. H. Williams & Co., Brooklyn, 
has been selected. This has stood the test of several years, 
and was founded on the successful daily experience of other 
associations in factories, railroads and department stores. 
The strength of this organization has been tested by several 
cases of very long continued illness, by a number of deaths 
which happened to come very close together, and by volun¬ 
tary withdrawals by employees, who have been refunded a 
portion of the dues which they have paid. In spite of these 
facts, and that the association has always had sick members 
to sustain, the funds have steadily increased, and it has been 
found practicable to engage a regular physician on an annual 
salary. 

To encourage thrift, and to enable their employees to be¬ 
come actively interested in the company, the Illinois Central 
Railroad offered to obtain for its employees shares of its 
stock, one at a time, at current market prices, to be paid for 
in monthly installments in such a manner as will suit their 
convenience, allowing them interest at the rate of four per 
cent, per annum on their deposits for such purchases, as well 
as the option at any time of cancelling their application for 
the purchase of shares and withdrawing their deposits for the 
same with accrued interest. 

On the first day of each month the company will quote to 
employees, through the heads of their departments, a price 
at which their applications will be accepted for the purchase 
of Illinois Central shares during that month. An employee 
is offered the privilege of subscribing for one share at a time, 
payable by installments in sums of $5 or any multiple of 
$5, on the completion of which the company will deliver 
to him a certificate of the share registered in his name on the 
books of the company. He can then, if he wishes, begin 
the purchase of another share on the installment plan. The 


66 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS. 


certificate of stock is transferable on the company’s books, 
and entitles the owner to such dividends as may be declared 
by the Board of Directors, and to a vote in their election. 

Any officer or employee making payments on this plan 
will be entitled to receive interest on his deposits, at the rate 
of four per cent, per annum, during the time he is paying for 
his share of stock, provided he does not allow twelve consec¬ 
utive months to elapse without making any payment, at the 
expiration of which period interest will cease to accrue, and 
the sum to his credit will be returned to him on application 
therefor. 

Any officer or employee making payments on the forego¬ 
ing plan, and for any reason desiring to discontinue them, 
can have his money returned to him with accrued interest, by 
making application to the head of the department in which 
he is employed. 

An employee who has made application for a share of 
stock on the installment plan is expected to make the first 
payment from the first wages which may be due him. Forms 
are provided for the purpose, on which the subscribing em¬ 
ployee authorizes the Local Treasurer in Chicago, or the Lo¬ 
cal Treasurer in New Orleans, or the Paymaster or the As¬ 
sistant Paymaster to retain from his wages the amount of in¬ 
stallment to be credited monthly to the employee for the pur¬ 
chase of a share of stock. 

In case an employee leaves the service of the company 
from any cause, he must then either pay in full for the share 
for which he has subscribed and receive a certificate therefor, 
or take his money with the interest which has accrued. 

The foregoing does not preclude the purchase of shares 
of stock for cash. An employee, who has not already an 
outstanding application for a share of stock on the install¬ 
ment plan which is not fully paid for, can in any given 
month make application for a share of stock for cash at the 
price quoted to employees for that month, and he can in the 
same month, if he so desires, make application for another 


INDUSTRIAL BETTERMENT. 


67 

share on the installment plan. Employees who want to pur¬ 
chase more than one share at a time for cash, should address 
the Vice President in Chicago, who will obtain for them from 
the New York office a price at which the stock can be pur¬ 
chased. Any employee desiring to purchase stock (except 
in special purchase of more than one share for cash) should 
apply to his immediate superior officer, or to one of the 
local treasurers. 

THE PLANT AN OBJECT LESSON. 

Industrial betterment has a wider scope than its influence 
on any particular establishment. Its wider application is the 
fact that it becomes an object lesson not only for the trade, 
but for the local community and the city. A factory where 
sympathy is the practice between employer and employee 
becomes talked about ; it is known that the men are kindly 
treated there ; workers want employment in that kind of a 
factory. Instinctively a high standard is set up, and a repu¬ 
tation is established for a kind of industrial Utopia. Illus¬ 
trating concretely :—at the National Cash Register Company, 
where so much has been done to decorate the factory 
grounds and buildings with vines and flowers, the employees, 
by example and precept, have been permeated by the desir¬ 
ability of natural beauty. Accordingly, each employee liv¬ 
ing in districts away from the factory has become a kind of 
missionary, preaching and applying the principles of vine 
and flower beauty to his own home. Thus the city gains. 
A city fire engine department, about half a mile from the fac¬ 
tory, planted flowers around their building. The owner of a 
factory cleaned up his premises, painted out the hideous ad¬ 
vertisement on his fences and contributed to good citizen¬ 
ship by making his factory remarkable for its neatness rather 
than its ugliness. 

Whatever promotes better feelings between capital and 
labor is a positive social asset. The influence of kindly 


68 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS. 


treatment becomes known in a community, almost as widely 
as tyrannous or oppressive acts. 

At the above establishment there are guides employed for 
the express purpose of showing people about the factory. 
The social work is sure to appeal to even the most indiffer¬ 
ent, and reflection certainly will deepen the casual impres¬ 
sion. 

It became known to the factory people that a certain part 
of South Park near the factory was to be improved by cut¬ 
ting down a knoll. The removal of this knoll would have 
meant the destruction of several fine old oak trees. When 
these facts became known to the factory people they in¬ 
stantly realized that the destruction of these trees, which had 
been old landmarks, would be an irreparable loss to the 
beauty of the park. Hastily assembling in a mass meeting 
one noon, they presented their collective protests so success¬ 
fully that the Park Commissioners rescinded their order, thus 
saving the trees for the city. This concerted action would 
never have been possible if the people had not been edu¬ 
cated to a sense of appreciation of landscape effects. 

Adjoining the factory neighborhood was a district near 
Rubicon Creek, rather unattractive in appearance, with no 
advantages of clubs, kindergartens and classes for the 
children. It was Mr. Patterson’s idea to improve this part 
of the city in the same way as the factory grounds. The 
first step was to dignify the suburb by a new name—Rubi¬ 
con. Two cottage buildings were moved there and became 
a centre of usefulness. Graded streets, cement and cinder 
sidewalks, the laying out and beautifying of lots, planting 
of trees, shrubs and vines, kindergartens for the children, 
culture clubs for the boys and girls, improvement and out 
door art associations were started. June 3rd, 1899, the 
people of the neighborhood were invited to a lawn party 
in the grove belonging to the old homestead of the Patter¬ 
sons. One part of the program were illustrations by means 
of lantern slides showing what other communities had ac- 


INDUSTRIAL BETTERMENT. 


69 


complished for local improvement, and presenting simple 
suggestions for carrying out similar plans for Rubicon. 
During the summer the Patterson homestead grounds were 
open to the children of Rubicon, South Park and Oakwood. 
Three hundred and twenty-five children were enrolled under 
the instruction of four teachers and four assistants, who 
maintained classes in clay modeling, painting and charcoal 
drawing, sewing and nature study. The boys enjoyed tugs 
of war, quoits, baseball, foot races, flag races and all out 
door sports. 


COMMUNAL INFLUENCE. 

Among the best illustrations of the communal influence 
of a movement for industrial betterment is that of the 
Peace Dale Manufacturing Co., whose business can be 
traced back to the early part of the century. Peace Dale 
is a village of about 1500 inhabitants in Rhode Island. The 
various village organizations are not in the formal control 
of the company, but in nearly every instance they have been 
started and maintained by the members of the corporation. 

The fact that the stockholders of the corporation have 
always lived there and have been a part of the village life 
itself, has been a useful factor in the growth of the place. 

As early as 1854, the village children were taught singing 
in the village school on a week-day afternoon, and gathered 
into a Sunday School on Sunday by one of the owners and 
his wife. In 1856 a large building was put up, with accom¬ 
modation for the library founded two years earlier, a reading 
room, and a hall in which a church was organized. These 
rooms were used until 1872, when the church was built, and 
till 1891, when the library was moved to its present quarters. 
Most of the organizations named below are thus village, 
rather than company matters, but at the same time the com¬ 
pany, its owners, and employees, practically make up the 
village. 


70 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS. 


The Hazard Memorial harbors most of these organizations, 
containing a library of about seven thousand volumes, a hall 
seating six hundred people, several class-rooms and a gym¬ 
nasium. The building, of stone and wood, is an important 
part of the village architecture, and cost about $50,000. The 
building was erected in 1891 to the memory of Rowland 
Gibson Hazard. 

The library is maintained in the interest of the whole town, 
and is managed by a board of directors that represent 
the different villages. It is used principally by Peace Dale 
and Wakefield, and in the summer is drawn upon by Narragan- 
sett Pier and other near-by summer resorts. It is entirely 
free. It has not only the library proper, but a reading room, 
which is open during the season until eight o’clock every 
night. The library is supported by funds that have been 
given to it from time to time, and contributions from various 
interested people. The town has within the past year for 
the first time made an appropriation for books. 

The Choral Society was organized some ten years ago, 
and has grown to be one of the leading features of Peace 
Dale. A conductor comes from Providence once a week 
during the season for the chorus of seventy-five to one hun¬ 
dred voices, who make up the membership of the society. 
They give three concerts each year, and have done some 
very good work, as “The Elijah” a few years ago, Rossini’s 
“ Stabat Mater,” and several other things of a similar rank, 
including “The Creation” and Sullivan’s “Golden Legend.” 
This Choral Society has not only helped the village in itself, 
by giving concerts and affording the singers of the place an 
opportunity, but it has an indirect value in developing the 
local musical talent, as shown in an excellent church choir, 
and especially in what are called the Sunday Musics. 

The Choral Society is formally organized, the members 
paying three dollars each per annum. There is an admission 
fee to the concerts, but the whole sum realized from these 


INDUSTRIAL BETTERMENT. 7 I 

sources is not sufficient to carry on the work, and the de¬ 
ficiency is made up by the owners of the mill property. 

A few years ago the Sunday musics were begun by 
Miss Hazard and her sister, who went into the hall on a 
Sunday afternoon and played and sang for fifteen or twenty 
minutes, while a few people from the outside straggled in. 
From that, it has grown to be an informal concert each 
Sunday afternoon for the season, from November until 
Easter. The various Sundays during the time are allotted 
to musical people in the village and town, each one pro¬ 
viding a programme that will take from half an hour to an 
hour. The music is not wholly sacred, but it is attractive 
to the people of the village and town, who come in large 
numbers, and the hall very frequently contains from 250 to 
600 on a pleasant Sunday afternoon. The musicians are 
almost entirely local, though once in a while there is some 
first-class performer from the outside. There is no organi¬ 
zation, and no charge of any sort connected with this work. 

The Sewing Society has two rooms upstairs in the building, 
and meets every Saturday afternoon during the fall, winter 
and spring. This also is without formal organization, and 
is carried on by the wife of the President of the company 
and a number of other ladies in the village. The girls are 
divided into classes and are taught the practical art of 
sewing. Twice a year the hundred pupils are given a little 
spread and a frolic. 

The Boys’ Room was started some five years ago, and is 
a very simple affair. The membership is confined to boys 
under sixteen nominally, although there are a few over that 
age who came in several years ago, and have continued to 
come. The boys are the village boys, mostly the sons of 
mill operatives. They come at half-past seven o’clock 
Friday evenings, and stay until nine o’clock. They are 
divided into two parts, and sent down, one part at a time, 
to the gymnasium, where they are instructed and led in 
gymnastics by some competent person. The other part is 


72 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS. 


kept in the rooms above, where there are games and reading 
matter, and a few are drawn into classes in arithmetic, some¬ 
times in stenography, or in any study in which sufficient in¬ 
terest is shown to gather a class. It is the idea of the club 
that the boys may be helped by association with refined and 
orderly methods. Eight or ten people come regularly to 
help carry on the work. There is no charge of any sort in 
connection with this organization. At the end of the year 
the boys are treated to ice-cream and cake and a general 
good time. 

There are also in the building some special classes in 
manual training. One class in carpentry numbers from 
eight to ten boys, who are mostly sons of mill operatives. 
They are furnished with tools by the Trustees of the hall, 
and charged five cents a lesson to cover the cost of material. 
The instructor is a village carpenter of unusual skill, who 
gives his time. In the basement of the Memorial Hall there 
are a gymnasium, several bath rooms, and a smoking room. 
These are appropriated by the Athletic Association, which 
consists of some thirty or forty young men who each pay two 
dollars and a half per annum for the privilege of using the 
apparatus and the bath rooms, the money being applied to¬ 
ward the expense of maintaining the gymnasium. Any de¬ 
ficiencies are made up by the Trustees of the hall. The work 
is under the care of the superintendent of the Memorial 
Building, who collects dues and maintains order. 

The village supports a Literary Society, which meets every 
two weeks during the season, from October to May. It is 
regularly organized, and was begun a good many years ago. 
The entertainments are not wholly of a literary character, 
consisting of lectures, concerts, and dramatic performances, 
but are largely contributed by local talent. One concert of 
the Choral Society is included as a regular number in the 
Literary Society’s course. One night a year is given up to 
issuing a number of the South County Magazine, which is 
rather a unique production of this society. Though called 


NATIONAL CASH REGISTER COMPANY 

DAYTON, OHIO, U. S. A. 

Playground for Employees’ Children. 



The playground in Rubicon, 
under the direction of the 
N. C. R. Co. and members of 
the Kindergarten Association, 
is the latest effort for neighbor¬ 
hood improvement. All boys 
and girls under thirteen years 
of age residing in South Park, 
Rubicon and Oakwood are per¬ 
mitted to enjoy it. Two hun¬ 
dred and twenty-five children 
are enrolled. 

The playground is a part of 
the old Patterson homestead. 
It contains hills, a ravine, a 
spring and small stream and an 
abundance of shade trees, is pro¬ 
vided with swings, hammocks, 
croquet sets, quoits, volley-ball, 
vaulting and jumping appa¬ 
ratus, and is under the care 
of experienced kindergarten 
teachers. Reading, sketching 
and nature-study classes are 
among the instructive features. 


Summer Outings. 





INDUSTRIAL BETTERMENT. 


73 


a magazine, it is a manuscript, and is simply read, and 
illustrated by living pictures and drawings. The member¬ 
ship consists of all those who buy season tickets, the charge 
amounting to about ten cents per night. 

In the Memorial Hall several local circles of the King’s 
Daughters, branches of the regular organization of that 
name, hold their meetings. About one hundred and fifty 
women and girls belong to these circles, and sewing, both 
making and mending garments, and knitting, etc., is done. 
One circle owns a sick room outfit, bedside table, rolling 
chair, and other articles of use in sickness, which are loaned 
as occasion requires. 

The hall in the Memorial Building is for the general use 
of the people of the village, but is not let to any traveling 
show or organization, or for entertainments that are not con¬ 
sidered by the Trustees to be for the better interests of the 
village. The rental to such people as can hire it is nominal. 
It is also used for fairs and concerts for special town 
purposes. 

In the village is another building containing a reading 
room, which is regularly organized and is patronized by the 
young men entirely. This club is called the Peace Dale 
Reading Association. The dues are about two dollars a 
year, which go toward buying newspapers and periodicals. 
Any deficit is made up by the President of the Peace Dale 
Mfg. Co. A room and lighting are furnished them free of 
charge for meetings at all times, smoking, playing cards, or 
entertainments. 

The Peace Dale Manufacturing Company inaugurated, 
a number of years ago, a system of profit sharing with the 
employees. The only other general work in this line that 
the Peace Dale Company undertakes is the cultivation of a 
spirit of fairness and just dealing with its employees, and 
making the tenements and the village generally as attractive, 
pleasant, and healthful as possible. 


74 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS. 


The owners of the property think that the efforts which 
they have made, extending now over a long series of years, 
have aided in bringing about a cordial feeling among all 
parties who work for the company, and in raising the general 
morale of the village. Certainly Peace Dale has a body of 
very efficient and steady help, and the changes among the 
employees are small. A number of families have been here 
for several generations, and the company has never ex¬ 
perienced any serious labor difficulties. 

THE DRAPER CO. 

Fourteen houses were built four years ago on a tract 
of about thirty acres of unimproved pasture land, which 
was laid out by Warren H. Manning, landscape gar¬ 
dener, the layout being for the entire piece of land. A 
loop road was laid out and built by the town. 

The houses were all built on the oval enclosed by the 
road, giving opportunity to build the same number of houses 
on the opposite side of the street whenever the company 
was ready, without any extra charge as far as either roads, 
sewers or water supply is concerned. These houses, as 
well as all others owned by the company, are supplied 
with water furnished by the local water company, a private 
enterprise. 

The sewer system is constructed, managed and paid for 
entirely by the company. Where the sewer passes build¬ 
ings owned by other parties, they have always been per¬ 
mitted to connect with it by paying what represents an 
actual pro rata share of the cost. 

Returning to the lot of fourteen double houses : the road 
built by the town was constructed in the most thorough 
manner; macadamized, curbed, paved and concrete side¬ 
walks put in. The land where the houses stand was en¬ 
tirely re-graded, and these buildings represent an investment, 
outside of the value of the land itself, but including cellars 


INDUSTRIAL BETTERMENT. 


75 


and other expenses, of from $4,000 to $4,500 for each 
double tenement. 

At the end of the oval piece of land, where there was 
opportunity to obtain a back yard view in approaching the 
oval road, a small planting of quick growing shrubs and 
trees was put in, which has already made a good screen, 
fully answering the purpose intended. 

These tenements are rented on the basis of three dollars 
per week per tenement; that is, six dollars for a double 
house, the company paying from this amount the amount 
charged for water by the water company. In such houses 
as are provided with furnaces, there is an additional charge 
of fifty cents per week to cover this expense. Each house 
contains about the same quantity of room, although the 
interior designs are quite different. There is a parlor or 
living room, with good-sized hall, in nearly all cases being 
connected with the living room by a wide sliding-door. 

There are also dining-room, kitchen and good sized pantry 
on first floor, these last three rooms having hard wood 
floors. On the next story there are three sleeping-rooms 
and bath room for each tenement. There is a good sized 
store room in attic, and the cellar is thoroughly drained and 
cemented. 

At the rear of the house, each tenement is provided with 
clothes reel and garbage can, and special attention is called 
to the fact that these back yards are as well kept by the 
tenants as the front yards. The garbage cans through the 
season are taken care of at the expense of the company. 
Through the winter, ashes are placed in a pile where con¬ 
venient and carted away by the company in the spring. 
The houses are all built of wood, and nearly all of them 
contain two tenements each, the division being made ver¬ 
tically through the center. 

In regard to class of tenants occupying the settlement 
there is no classification, except that as these are among the 
best, they are not let to tenants who seem likely to be un- 


76 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS. 


desirable, but they contain people working in various parts 
of the premises, office or other parts of the work, who 
as a matter of course are people earning more than the 
average amount of wages, as otherwise they could not 
afford to live in these houses. 

The church was completed about one year ago, and was 
built by Messrs. George A. and Eben S. Draper, of the com¬ 
pany, as a memorial to their father and mother, the late 
George and Hannah B. Draper, who were among the old 
residents. This church was presented to the parish by the 
Messrs. Draper. 

The Town Hall was built by the late George Draper, but 
was not quite completed at the time of his death. It was 
his intention to present it to the town, and when completed 
it was given to the town by his children. This building 
contains the usual town hall, which is provided with stage 
and scenery, so that it can be used for dramatic enter¬ 
tainments and other matters of local interest. In the first 
story is located the post office, and up to within a short 
time the town library. There are also rooms for town offi¬ 
cials, caucus hall, store and a market. This building cost 
nearly $40,000. 

The High School building was built within a year or 
so after the town of Hopedale was set off from Milford, 
it being thought that, although a small town, it could provide 
better High School accommodations than to pay tuition to 
another town. This building was built by the local corpor¬ 
ation and donated to the town. It is constructed of wood, 
well lighted and with good appliances throughout, and in¬ 
cluding furnishing cost fully $7000 above the land. The 
town in this case furnished the land only. 

The Town Library was dedicated December 1899. This 
building cost $20,000 to $25,000, and was built and given to 
the town by Mr. Joseph B. Bancroft as a memorial to his 
wife, the late Silvia W. Bancroft. It is a beautiful building 


NATIONAL CASH REGISTER COMPANY 

DAYTON, OHIO, U. S. A. 

Practical Results in Mouse and Yard Decoration by Employees, 

Under the Company’s Direction. 



A Back Yard in Spring-. 



The Same Yard and Its Decorator, Thirteen Years Old, 
Winner of a Prize for Best-Kept Back Yards. 



Back Yards of Employees’ Houses, Opposite the Factory. 



The Raw Material. 


The Finished Product. 































i 























» t 





' 







INDUSTRIAL BETTERMENT. 


77 


in every respect, and contains all the most improved appli¬ 
ances for library and reading room. 

WHAT MORE THAN WAGES. 

In modern business there is little room for sentiment; the 
ordinary employer demands a cash equivalent for each dollar 
paid out. The situation is reflected by the commercial prov¬ 
erb, “ Business is business.” But here and there employers 
are beginning to realize that investment in manhood pays ; 
that improved men for improved machines have economic 
value, because a more vigorous man can do more work, a 
more intelligent man will do more intelligent work and a 
more conscientious man will do more conscientious work. 

“ I want machines so simple in their operation that any 
fool can run them,” remarked an employer the other day. 
The fool machines may be run by the fool workman, but the 
employer will have the monopoly of the folly of such an 
industrial policy. Improved machines demand improved 
men to run them. 

“What more than wages ” is an industrial question that is 
being asked by men, some of whom feel that the labor share 
of their wealth production should have a larger reward than 
the mere payment of wages ; other employers are sufficiently 
far-sighted to recognize that whatever makes the worker 
more human, more contented, more skilled, is a positive 
industrial asset in the business and is a large factor in indus¬ 
trial stability. 

Unfortunately a lack of sympathy too often prevails, espe¬ 
cially towards the rank and file—“hands,” as they are called. 
In an industrial community, word was brought to the local 
clergyman that one of the workmen had been severely hurt. 
The clergyman jumped on his wheel, hurrying to see if there 
was anything which he could do. On his way, he met the 
owner of the mills, who asked him where he was going in 
such haste. On learning that he was bound for his own 


78 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS. 


works to render what service he could to the injured man, 
the owner remarked, “ Oh pshaw ! there is no need of your 
doing that; he is only a damned puddler ! ” As long as any 
employer regards any one of his employees as so much 
trash, not recognizing that the workman possesses like sensi¬ 
bilities as himself, as long as the employer lacks sympathy, 
as long as he fails to acknowledge certain inalienable rights, 
just so long will this condition of injustice lead to bitterness 
and indifferent work, all of which tend to widen the breach 
between capital and labor. 

When there is sympathy on the part of the employer, and 
its realization on the part of the employee, their interests 
become identical, and they show it by the response that they 
give. In a New England department store the work began 
at 8:30 a. m. and closed at 5:30 p. m. It was the custom of 
other firms to begin at nine and close at six, the half hour 
before nine o’clock bringing very little trade and the half 
hour before six a fairly steady flow. This firm believed in 
the identity of interest and showed their sympathy in a great 
variety of ways, believing that the more closely they could 
manage their business on democratic lines, the greater would 
be their success. A meeting of the employees was called, 
and the question of changing the hours was left to their 
decision. Bear in mind that the half hour before six was 
very highly valued by the women and girls, as it gave them 
opportunity for comfortably preparing for home before the 
rush on trains and cars, and evening entertainments. 
Although they realized what closing at six would mean to 
them, several said at the meeting that they did not want 
their firm to lose the half hour’s business, which otherwise 
would go to rival stores. When the vote was taken it was 
found that a decided majority were in favor of closing at six. 

The New Industrialism has for its guiding principle, Pros¬ 
perity Sharing. One captain of industry believing in this 
principle writes me, “ What I have done I planned, not on 
the basis of charity or philanthropy, but on the principle that 


INDUSTRIAL BETTERMENT. 


79 


what my employees received was their rightful share, and 
when they were in my works they made full and ample 
return. I am therefore sharing the prosperity of my business 
with those who have helped me make it.” Another employer 
said to me, “ My employees have done a large share in pro¬ 
ducing my wealth, and I owe them some recognition of that 
act.” 

Prosperity sharing, therefore, provides for the all round 
development of the worker, not only providing him with 
hygienic and comfortable workrooms and surroundings, but 
through education, recreation, making him a better member 
of the community, a more intelligent citizen and a stronger 
supporter of the Commonwealth. 

Not from the churches, not from the universities and 
colleges, not from the common schools, but from the 
hands of the great captains of industry who are recog¬ 
nizing and providing for the all round development, the 
character of the plain people is being moulded and shaped 
along lines of civic and social usefulness. Never before in 
the history of the world has the employer had such colossal 
opportunities for guiding and uplifting the thousands of men 
and women, who spend at least a third of each working day 
in his employ. If employers realized that they held within 
their grasp the possibilities of industrial contentment, social 
stability and communal welfare, they would plan and scheme 
how to improve the conditions of their employees with the 
same zeal as they now devote to promoting the efficiency of 
their business, extending its operations and reaching out for 
the acquisition of new commercial territory. 

Granted a desire on the part of an employer to do some¬ 
thing to improve the conditions under which his people work 
or live, how shall he get the necessary information ? He 
wants to do something, but does not know how much it will 
cost him, is afraid that he will not succeed, that his efforts 
will not be appreciated, and that once the start is made he 
will need some one to help him keep it going. All these 


8o 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS. 


queries are natural, and the difficulties that accompany them 
have effectually prevented many an effort for industrial bet¬ 
terment. 

The League for Social Service in New York is collecting 
photographs, diagrams, reports, documents, whatever is 
being done by employers for employees. Accordingly when 
the president of a large iron company wrote to inquire 
regarding the provision of open air baths and swimming 
pools for his miners, this organization sent him photographs 
of swimming pools, referred him to those who were manag¬ 
ing them, so that he might get the very latest details as to 
the cost of administration and operating, and sent him a re¬ 
port covering the general subject of public baths. If he had 
desired, the society could have sent a representative to study 
the situation at original sources and then give him expert 
advice on every phase of the subject. It is practically a 
great clearing house of all kinds of facts and movements for 
improving industrial conditions. 

An employer doing a business of half a million asked the 
writer if he could commend to him any young man or 
woman, preferably some one just graduated from college, 
hence of trained intelligence, who could go into his es¬ 
tablishment with the status of a social secretary, for purpose 
of advising, by personal contact with the working staff, so 
that the employees could be made of more value to them¬ 
selves in the first instance, and to their employer in the sec¬ 
ond. Last spring the writer was asked if he would entertain 
a proposition to go with a large concern, about to start 
a plant in the suburbs of a large city. The firm wished 
some one to take the general oversight and planning of all 
kinds of movements that would tend to improve the con¬ 
ditions of their employees, in education, recreation, sanita¬ 
tion, and so on. 

After an inspection of a plant where nearly 4,000 men are 
employed, the Superintendent asked for suggestions looking 
toward industrial betterment. I gave him several that were 


INDUSTRIAL BETTERMENT. 


8l 


perfectly obvious. “Why/’ he replied, “we can’t give the 
time to following up those points. We are too busy ; we 
must do our own work.” “ Of course you are too busy,” I 
said, “ and for that very reason you need some one on your 
staff whose sole business will be the planning and direction 
of movements to improve industrial conditions ; in other 
words you need a social engineer.” Social engineering is a 
new profession. 

Does it pay? is a question sure to be asked by every 
employer, and by pay he means an equivalent in dollars and 
cents, quite independent of any satisfaction that he is doing 
his duty, in the fulfilment of moral obligations to his em¬ 
ployees. On this point, moralization and speculation are 
futile. Sentiment weighs but little with the business man ; 
what he wants are the cold facts on which he can base his 
own deductions. 

The Cleveland Hardware Co., testified, January, 1900: 

“ Although we believe that what we are doing is most 
practical and philanthropic, our company does not feel that 
it is a philanthropy, but a good business proposition. We 
believe that the manufacturing plant of the future will not be 
designed without arrangements being made for club rooms, 
dining rooms, bath rooms, and similar conveniences, for its 
employees, and we are contemplating putting in all of these 
ourselves, for we realize that the cooperation and good will 
of our employees is money in the company’s pocket.” 

In response to the question, Does industrial betterment 
pay? Mr. John H. Patterson writes, May 3, 1900: 

“What many of my business associates have character¬ 
ized as sentimental—namely, baths in the factory, prizes for 
su gg es ti° ns , landscape gardening, pleasant Sunday after¬ 
noons, lunches for the girls in the office, boys’ gardens, and 
our various clubs—cost us about $30,000, or three per cent, 
of our annual pay roll, $1,000,000. 

“We buy physical and mental labor. If it pays to take 
care of a good animal that only returns physical work, how 
much more important is it for the employer to take care of 
the employee returning both physical and mental labor. 


82 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS. 


“We believe that people are a part of all they have met; 
that is, all they have seen and all they have heard is ab¬ 
sorbed by them, and it therefore pays to have good in¬ 
fluences and surroundings for them. We have tried both 
plans, and believe that the three per cent, of our annual pay 
roll which we spend on movements for industrial betterment 
yields us approximately between five and ten per cent, profit 
in actual dollars and cents. The morale, the example and 
daily lives of our employees, are influences that refuse to 
yield to statistics.” 

When well known and successful firms such as these 
testify that Industrial Betterment does pay, should not unbe¬ 
lieving firms make a careful study of the situation from the 
view point of good business forethought. It is my convic¬ 
tion, based on observation and a knowledge of the facts, that 
the trend of the new industrialism is creating new economic 
and social environments, so that every firm will be obliged 
in self-defense to bring itself in line with this forward move¬ 
ment. The hardy pioneers in Industrial Betterment, who had 
the courage of their convictions and the perseverance to 
carry out their plans in spite of the criticism of their asso¬ 
ciates and the opposition of their friends, richly deserve the 
splendid success that attended their new economic policy. 

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE. 

As very little literature in book form exists on the subject 
of industrial betterment, the information has been secured 
from personal visits, correspondence with superintendents, 
general managers, individuals of firms, references to the files 
of the daily press, occasional magazine articles, and publica¬ 
tions which have been issued by employers for their own 
staff. “A Dividend to Labor,” by Nicholas P. Gilman, con¬ 
tains chapters summarizing many American movements for 
industrial betterment. 






























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r 

































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ROBERT R. McBURNEY 
1837-1898 

GENERAL SECRETARY NEW YORK CITY ASSOCIATION, 1862-1898 
MEMBER AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE, 1866-1898 
AMERICAN DELEGATE TO WORLD’S CONFERENCE, 1878-1898 






Department of Social Economy 
for THE 

United States Commission to the Paris Exposition of 1900 


MONOGRAPHS 

ON 

AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


EDITOR 

HERBERT B. ADAMS 

/ Professor of American History in Johns Hopkins University 


ASSOCIATE EDITOR 

RICHARD WATERMAN JR 


XVII 

Young Men’s Christian Associations of 
North America 


BY 

H. S. NINDE 

A Secretary of the International Committee of the Young Men's Christian Associations 


This Monograph is contributed to the United States Social Economy Exhibit 
by The League for Social Service, New York 





Copyrighted 1900 
by 

The International Committee of Young Men’s Christian Associations 


J. B. LYON COMPANY 
RRINTERS AND BINDERS . 
ALBANY, N. Y. 



I 




* 




SCENE AT CAMP ALGER, WASHINGTON 



















* 


TABLE OF CONTENTS 


TAG'S 

Introductory Period.. 3 

Development of the Work: 

I General organization.« 6 

II Local association.. 11 

III Work for special classes. 16 

Paris Declaration.... 26 

Portland Resolutions. 26 













































































































































































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TYPICAL ASSOCIATION HOME 














































THE YOUNG MEN’S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATIONS 
OF NORTH AMERICA 


INTRODUCTORY PERIOD (1 85 1-1 866 ) 

The Young men’s Christian associations in the United 
States and Canada are an outgrowth of the London society 
of the same name founded in 1844. The first organizations 
were effected at Montreal and Boston, the former on the 9th 
and the latter on the 29th of December, 1851. Nothing was 
known of the Montreal work in the United States for more 
than two years. The Boston association, however, soon gained 
publicity through the press, and copies of its constitution com¬ 
ing into the hands of young men in Buffalo, Washington, New 
York and Baltimore led to similar organizations in those places 
during 1852, and in many other cities during the year following. 

The first effort toward affiliating these scattered societies 
came from Washington. The project was started during the 
summer of 1852, but it was nearly two years later that the first 
delegated gathering met in Buffalo, June 7, 1854, the year 
preceding the first world’s conference, at Paris, and just 10 
years and a day from the founding of the parent society in 
London. The call had been sent out to 32 associations; 
19 were represented by 37 delegates, one of whom repre¬ 
sented the two Canadian associations at Montreal and 
Toronto. The business proceedings culminated in the 
passage of a series of resolutions recommending’ a volun¬ 
tary confederation to be composed of such societies as should 
ratify the agreement, and providing for a stated convention 
and a central committee. No legislative functions whatever 
were allowed, the local societies being left independent in every 
respect. February 20, 1855, the central committee issued 
a circular announcing the ratification of the resolutions by two 

3 



4 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


thirds of the associations, thus formally bringing into existence 
the Young men's Christian confederation of the United States 
and British Provinces. 

During the next six years there was a gradual growth in the 
number of organizations. Conventions were annually held; 
communication both by correspondence and visitation was 
maintained with the associations of other lands, and there was 
a commendable activity among the home societies. There was 
little uniformity in methods, and much that was crude from 
the present standpoint; yet in the larger cities there was a 
real work for young men and practical experience was solv¬ 
ing many problems and determining principles that later 
were to dominate the entire work. 

At Paris, August 20, 1855, occurred the first world's con¬ 
ference under the name Conference universelle des unions 
Chretiennes de jeunes gens. The secretary of the American 
committee, through whose efforts chiefly the confederation had 
been established, was actively instrumental in bringing about 
the Paris meeting. He also suggested the system of inter¬ 
national correspondence adopted by the conference. An 
American delegate presented a series of resolutions looking 
toward a union of the associations of all lands, and which led 
to the adoption of the historic Paris basis.* The American 
associations have continued to take a deep interest in these 
conferences, have for many years sent large delegations to 
attend them, and cooperated earnestly in establishing the 
present world's committee. At New Orleans, April 11-16, 
i860, occurred the final gathering of the so-called American 
confederation. The attendance was large and many repre¬ 
sentative men were present. Nothing in the proceedings fore¬ 
shadowed the coming dissolution, but one year from the day 
on which the convention assembled the first gun of the civil 
war was fired and the exigencies of that conflict made it im- 


*See " Paris declaration,” page 26. 



YOUNG MEN’S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATIONS OF NORTH AMERICA 5 

practicable to hold a general convention either that year or the 
next. A special convention of the northern associations, how¬ 
ever, was called to meet in New York city, November 14, 1861, 
to consider systematic Christian effort in the army. At this 
meeting the United States Christian commission, was formed, 
an organization unique in the history of warfare — ministering 
to both the physical and spiritual needs of men. Receiving 
the cooperation of the general public it sent out during the 
war (1861-1865) 5 00 ° Christian helpers to the camps and hos¬ 
pitals and distributed over $5,000,000 in money and stores. 
The southern associations did much in the same direction but 
not in any such organized form. Inevitably the associations 
were seriously affected by the war; the young men in great 
numbers entered the armies and such organizations as did not 
disband, neglecting the home field, gave their effort chiefly to 
army work. 

In the spring of 1863 the central committee, then located 
at Philadelphia, issued a call for a general convention to meet 
at Chicago in June. The war had practically broken up the 
old confederation and notices were sent to all known associa¬ 
tions in the northern states and Canada. The sessions of the 
convention were occupied mainly with the work of the Chris¬ 
tian commission. A series of resolutions, however, directed 
attention to the greatly neglected home field and led to the 
presentation of a strong paper on work for young men at the 
Boston convention the following year. At the Philadelphia 
convention, in 1865, direct work for young men was taken up 
in a series of practical topics, a part of the last evening session 
being devoted to that discussion. This was the beginning of 
what soon became the leading feature of these gatherings. But 
the Albany convention of 1866 marked a new epoch. An an¬ 
nual day of prayer was recommended — since recognized by a 
world-wide observance; the calling of state and provincial con¬ 
ventions was provided for — the first step in that system of 
auxiliary supervision now covering the continent; the execu- 


6 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


tive committee was located in New York city, where it has 
since remained; work by and for young men was so forcibly 
insisted upon as the one distinctive purpose of the organization 
that this principle has since dominated the work. 

DEVELOPMENT OF THE WORK (1867-1899) 

I General organization 

The general organization consisting from 1854 of the con¬ 
federation and its central committee was modified and strength¬ 
ened by the action at Chicago in 1863. The conventions con¬ 
tinued to meet annually till 1877, when they were made 
biennial. The individual associations have always been enti¬ 
tled to direct representation in the convention. Since 1869 
this has been based on the active membership. Since 1866 the 
executive committee — incorporated in 1883 as the Inter¬ 
national committee of Young men’s Christian associations — 
has had its headquarters with a working quorum in New York 
city. The committee is composed of 45 members, lead¬ 
ing business men representing all parts of the continent. The 
act of incorporation created a self-perpetuating board of 15 
trustees to hold all endowments and real property coming to 
the committee. The committee is further strengthened by an 
advisory board and by a corresponding member in each state, 
province or group of its North American constituency and in 
many foreign countries. 

The first employed agent of the committee was engaged 
for specific work in the west in 1868. Late in the following 
year the present general secretary was secured. The interna¬ 
tional force has been increased with the exigencies of the grow¬ 
ing work till the list of field and office secretaries now numbers 
56, of whom 18 are in the work abroad. Many of these men 
have by long and careful service become experts in their sev¬ 
eral departments and have been important factors in promot¬ 
ing and directing the American work. The scope of the 


YOUNG MEN S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATIONS OF NORTH AMERICA 7 

international committee’s work as it stands to-day may be 
outlined as follows: 

1 Supervision and extension: a) of the entire American 
field; b) of departmental fields such as the college and railroad 
work; c) of work in foreign lands. 

2 Secretarial: securing and recommending trained officers. 

3 Buildings: advising regarding location, plan of construc¬ 
tion and business management of association buildings. 

4 Finance: securing funds in aid of state and local fields 
in emergencies and for its own work. 

5 Conventions: arranging the international meetings, aid¬ 
ing state and departmental conventions and sending represent¬ 
atives to all. 

6 Correspondence: many hundred thousand letters and cir¬ 
culars are sent out and received annually. 

7 Publications: the present list comprises several hundred 
pamphlets and books. 

8 The week of prayer is observed annually through the 
systematic effort of the committee. 

9 In time of special public calamity the committee often 
acts as an agent — cooperating with the local associations — 
in receiving and dispensing contributions for the relief of young 
men. 

Supplemental to and patterned after the international are 
the state and provincial organizations. They had their origin 
in a resolution of the Albany convention (1866). Four conven¬ 
tions were held the first year with such results as brought them 
into general favor. Systematic organization soon followed in 
the form of an executive committee or an incorporated state 
association. In 1871 the first employed agent of a state com¬ 
mittee was put in the field in Pennsylvania. There are now 
34 of these organizations in which 49 states and provinces par¬ 
ticipate; their executive committees number 770 members, 
with some 52 traveling and office secretaries. The 1899 Year 


8 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


book reported 31 state and provincial conventions in which 
969 associations were represented by over 6000 delegates. 
Many states are subdivided into districts, each of which has 
its executive committee and an annual conference. In several 
states there are county organizations with traveling secretaries 
and systematic work for young men in the smaller towns and 
country districts. Many of the states have a system of corre¬ 
sponding members representing sections where no associations 
exist, and who stimulate work for young men and often bring 
those removing to larger towns into affiliation with the asso¬ 
ciation through letters of introduction. 

It is generally conceded that the finances of the international 
and state organizations are economically and judiciously ad¬ 
ministered. The annual expenditures of the former have 
grown from less than $600, reported to the convention of 1866, 
to $163,773, reported to that of 1899, exclusive of $28,872 for 
the foreign work. The expenditures the same year for state 
and provincial work were $133,310, and 959 local associations 
reported cash paid out for current expenses, $2,453,778. 

The Paris basis of 1855 was ratified the following year by 
the Montreal convention. But although the American asso¬ 
ciations as a body were eminently evangelical in spirit and in 
practice, the so-called “ evangelical test ”* was not adopted 
till 1869. This action brought the associations into still closer 
relations with the great mass of American Christians. The 
loyalty of the organization to the church has never been se¬ 
riously questioned. That it is an interdenominational body 
occupying a position auxiliary to the church, which has a prior 
claim on the sympathies and efforts of its members, has been 
not only affirmed and reaffirmed at the conventions but practi¬ 
cally illustrated in the work itself. 

The first association building was erected in Chicago in 1867. 
During the following 10 years 22 more were added, including 


♦See “ Portland resolutions,” page 26. 




BOSTON 

BUILDINGS OF THE FIRST TWO NORTH AMERICAN ASSOCIATIONS 




















































' 















































































































































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• 4 












































i' 












• - - ---•»■ 








































SCRANTON, PA. 



DAYTON, OHIO 

TWO BUILDINGS TO BE ERECTED IN 1900 

















































YOUNG MEN’S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATIONS OF NORTH AMERICA 9 

one in New York costing nearly $500,000 and so adapted 
to the work as to be really the first distinctive association 
home. The era of more rapid building development, however, 
began about 1884. During the year 1899 nearly 40 build¬ 
ings were erected, some of them as additions to or to take the 
place of former structures, and nearly as many more buildings 
are assured for the present year. Among the later buildings are 
many fine structures, comparing well with other public build¬ 
ings in their respective towns and thoroughly adapted to the 
requirements of the work. The typical association home has 
an attractive entrance leading to a central reception room in 
which are the business offices and through which only there 
is access to the various rooms and departments. These con¬ 
sist of reading room, library, parlors, amusement room, rooms 
for officers, sometimes both a large and a small assembly room, 
educational class rooms, physical department, including gymna¬ 
sium, bowling alleys, baths and dressing rooms, apartments 
for boys’ work, kitchen and janitor’s quarters. Most build¬ 
ings for the city associations are so constructed that some part, 
usually the ground floor, may be rented out. Recently it has 
become customary to provide dormitories for young men in 
the upper stories of the buildings. There are now nearly 400 
buildings, valued at more than $20,000,000. 

The associations in a few large cities always employed a 
supervisory officer at the rooms, but the number did not begin 
to increase rapidly till about 1871. In this year some 12 
or 15 of these officers met together and organized the Asso¬ 
ciation of general secretaries. At the sessions of this organiza¬ 
tion which were held each year, till they were made biennial in 
1898, papers have been read followed by thorough discussions 
of every phase of the qualifications and work of the general 
secretary, and later of the physical director and other employed 
officers. For many years these meetings offered the best op¬ 
portunity for receiving instruction concerning the work. As 
the number of employed men increased these secretarial con- 


IO 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


ferences were organized in connection with the different states 
or groups of states. The present number of employed officers 
is 1275, and the organization of new associations, except in 
the smaller towns, is not encouraged unless provision be made 
for salaried supervision. 

The growing need of men with a more thorough and tech¬ 
nical preparation for the work has led to the establishment of 
two training schools, one at Springfield, Mass., in 1885, and a 
second at Chicago, in 1890. The former has secured spacious 
and attractive grounds in a suburban quarter and Has erected 
suitable buildings for its work; the latter is advantageously 
located in the new building of the Chicago association, and has 
grounds and buildings for a summer school on a beautiful lake 
within easy reach of the same city. The students of both these 
schools receive not only theoretical, but practical training in 
every branch of the work. 

The international committee soon after its removal to New 
York, in 1866, began to issue occasional pamphlets giving 
helpful information about the organization and its methods. 
Its list of publications now covers every phase of the various 
departments, includes a hand book of 500 pages, which is used 
as a text-book in the training schools, many excellent courses 
of Bible study, and three periodicals — Association men 
and The inter collegian, published monthly, and the For¬ 
eign mail, a small quarterly — representing respectively the 
general work and the student and foreign mission depart¬ 
ments. The Year hook, made up from carefully gathered sta¬ 
tistics with reports of officers and corresponding members, has 
become a considerable volume, and the published proceedings 
of the international and state conventions are filled with prac¬ 
tical papers and discussions relating to association work. 

During the early period of the organization the number of 
associations and the membership fluctuated greatly, but of 
late years the advance in the number of organizations and mem¬ 
bership has been on the whole conservative but steady, show- 




DORMITORY 

BUILDINGS OF SECRETARIAL TRAINING SCHOOL 

SPRINGFIELD, MASS. 


GYMNASIUM 






























































‘ 


































♦ 

. 














































































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* * - 




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- 























































































V 



















































































w CtVTRAl. DEPARTMENT 

THE YOUNG MEN S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION' OF CHICAGO 


; | 


a- ^ 




THE ATHLETIC FIELD 




,v*^ 


THE SECRETARIAL INSTITUTE AND TRAINING SCHOOL OF YOUNG MEN’S 

CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATIONS 

COMPLETE COURSES FOR SECRETARIES, PHYSICAL DIRECTOFS AND EDUCATIONAL DIRECTORS 
IN CHICAGO. SUMMER SESSIONS AT LAKE GENEVA, WISCONSIN 









































YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATIONS OF NORTH AMERICA II 

ing naturally some falling off during the periods of special 
business depression. The 1899 b°°k gives 1429 as the 
total number of associations in North America, 1233 of these 
reporting an aggregate membership of 228,568. 

II Local association 

The typical American association may be thus outlined: 

1 Membership: a) active, Christian young men who con¬ 
stitute the working force; b) associate, young men who join 
chiefly for the varied privileges. More than one half of the 
membership is of the latter class. Thousands of non-members 
in every city also come within the helpful influence of the 
organization. 

2 An incorporated board of management, with officers and 
a system of working committees. The membership of these 
boards and committees aggregates 35,000. 

3 A paid executive officer, fitted by Christian and business 
character, tact and technical training to supervise and develop 
the workers and the work. One or more assistants and in the 
larger associations a numerous staff are required. 

4 A specially constructed building or the best rented 
quarters obtainable as an association home. 

5 Organized departments, each under the supervision of a 
standing or department committee with its necessary sub¬ 
divisions: a) business — general supervision, finance, mem¬ 
bership; b) religious — Bible study, evangelistic and devo¬ 
tional meetings, religious literature, invitation, visitation, per¬ 
sonal purity, temperance, and specially emphasized personal 
work; c) educational — library, reading room, educational 
classes, literary society, lectures and practical talks; d) physi¬ 
cal — gymnasium, outdoor athletics, cycling, boating, swim¬ 
ming, rambling, all under trained instructors; e) social — an 
attractive resort, good companionship, healthful recreation and 
entertainments; f) free employment and boarding-house 
agencies, and other forms of practical helpfulness for young 


12 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


men; g) a work for boys along such of the above lines as may 
be found practicable. 


The supreme interest and effort of the American associa¬ 
tions has always centered in the religious work. No matter 
how much their scope has broadened by the multiplication of 
other agencies the directly religious features have been ac¬ 
corded their rightful first place and have absorbed the best 
thought of the best workers. And although these agencies 
are used because of their intrinsic value and as directly help¬ 
ful to young men, yet it is sought to make each in an unob¬ 
trusive, reasonable way, auxiliary to the spiritual work. 

Among the religious agencies the young men's meeting is 
conspicuous. Held by nearly every association, usually on 
Sunday afternoon, if — as it should be — an earnest, bright 
and attractive service, it is attended by many non-Christian 
young men, thousands of whom are through it led into the 
Christian life. Last year nearly 60,000 such meetings were 
held, with a total attendance of over two and a half millions. 
In 1866 but 13 out of 59 associations reported Bible classes; 
in 1899, 794 associations reported 38,578 Bible and train¬ 
ing class sessions, with a total attendance of more than 
450,000. The Bible or workers’ training class differs materi¬ 
ally from the evangelistic class. Its membership is confined 
to Christian young men and its primary purpose is to fit them 
by a definite and systematic training to help others. The 
Bible is studied with special reference to its use in evangelistic 
meetings, in personal dealing with inquirers, and in building 
up young believers. A very practical feature is systematic 
personal work by the members, who are thus enabled to report 
actual cases for the consideration and systematic cooperation 
of the class. The scope of the class sometimes broadens to 
include general Bible study, cardinal doctrines, church history 
and methods of association work. Effort is now being made 




PHYSIOLOGY 


) 



MECHANICAL DRAWING 

TYPICAL EVENING CLASS WORK 





















































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GRAND RAPIDS, MICH., 1899 












YOUNG MEN*S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATIONS OF NORTH AMERICA 1 3 

through the Bible study department of the international com¬ 
mittee to unify and raise the standard of Bible work through 
uniform graded courses covering a series of years and adapted 
to the different lines of study employed by the associations. 


Educational agencies have been in use from the beginning, 
but, in 1892, an international secretary was placed in charge 
of this department, since which time there has been a substan¬ 
tial and most encouraging growth. Nearly 1000 reading 
rooms, supplied with the best periodicals, and 800 libraries with 
a half million volumes, serve to attract and develop young men. 
Lectures and practical talks in their various forms are well 
utilized, more than 5000 being reported the past year. Two 
hundred associations conduct literary societies. Congresses, 
topic clubs and various other forms of educational society work 
are reported in increasing numbers and quality each year. The 
most substantial growth has occurred in the educational class 
work, which is now conducted in 350 associations and has de¬ 
veloped into a strong unified movement for standard evening 
school work in which each season 1200 teachers give in¬ 
struction to 25,000 different young men. Fifty subjects are 
taught, in half of which there are standard courses of study 
outlined by an international board of examiners. The high 
standard of these courses is maintained by annual examinations 
of a rigorous character. Many colleges of North America are 
in sympathetic and cooperative relations with this movement, 
so that when a student finishes one of the association courses his 
certificate is accepted at its face value in lieu of the entrance 
examination. Several associations have recently received gifts 
and special endowments for the development of this particular 
work, ranging from $100 to $50,000. At a recent interna¬ 
tional convention an exhibit of the educational department was 
a most attractive feature, the scope and character of the work 
done being a surprising and gratifying revelation. 



14 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


In 1883 less than 50 associations reported gymnasiums, but 
the new buildings which about this time began to multiply, 
afforded better facilities for this feature and stimulated its 
growth. In five years the number increased to 237, and in an¬ 
other five to 500. These figures, however, are less significant 
than the improvement in the quality of the work itself. To-day 
the work is largely on a scientific basis and under the guidance 
of Christian physical directors, most of whom have received a 
technical training. An important duty of these officers is to 
select and train men as leaders, such leaders becoming valu¬ 
able assistants in the conduct of the physical work. Many as¬ 
sociations have athletic grounds and other facilities for sum¬ 
mer work, and thus maintain a hold the year round on the 
members interested in the department. The associations 
strongly urge a system of all-round training as opposed to that 
for expert athletic work in one or more specialties. Physical 
health, needed physical recreation and a symmetrical building 
up and training of the body for one’s life work are the direct 
objects sought, and form an essential contribution toward all¬ 
round Christian manhood. 

In 1896 an organized movement in the form of an associa¬ 
tion athletic league was started in the interests of “ clean sport ” 
-— being an effort to carry the principles of personal honor and 
Christian courtesy into the conduct of competitive games. The 
league has succeeded in raising the standard of athletics 
throughout the associations, and by its affiliation with other 
bodies has materially changed the moral tone of amateur ath¬ 
letics generally. The physical department has proved an 
attractive entrance door to the association; it offers an advan¬ 
tageous field for social contact and often yields the most en¬ 
couraging results in the work of personally winning young 
men to Christ. Often a gymnasium Bible class is conducted, 
composed of members of the department and taught by the 
physical director. 


YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATIONS OF NORTH AMERICA 1 5 

The importance of the social element has been fully recog¬ 
nized; no department can expect success unless pervaded by 
its kindly spirit. Effort is made to render the association 
rooms as homelike as possible by attractive furnishing, music, 
unobjectionable games and the companionable supervision of' 
a reception committee. The association building by affording 
more ample accommodation has greatly promoted the social 
element. Many entertainments are provided for the mem¬ 
bers, great tact and ingenuity being often displayed in adding 
new and pleasing features. For the past year nearly 5000 such 
entertainments are reported. Most of the association build¬ 
ings and some rented rooms are provided with kitchens and 
facilities for serving refreshments. Often a tea is served in con¬ 
nection with a committee meeting, adding a pleasing social 
feature besides being a convenience to those living at a 
distance. 


Under the title of “ Information and relief ” the associa¬ 
tion hand book classifies a number of useful features. Statis¬ 
tics of the employment bureau appear first in 1875, when 35 
associations report this agency. In the 1899 Year book , 338 
associations report more than 13,000 situations secured. The 
Boston association during its first year began directing young 
men coming as strangers to the city to boarding places where 
they might “ find a quiet home pervaded with Christian in¬ 
fluences.” This line of effort has been followed in most of 
the cities. One practical result is that the young stranger is 
brought into immediate contact with the association. Visita¬ 
tion of the sick is a valued agency and is specially called for in 
the railroad work, the last year's reports showing nearly 13,000 
such visits in that department alone. Relief work is confined 
to young men. Much is done in a quiet way by the secretaries, 
who become qualified by experience to exercise the needed 
discrimination. In large cities an extended work of this char¬ 
acter can not be carried on judiciously, except as a separate de- 



i6 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


partment. The Bowery branch of the New York association 
is almost entirely occupied with this work. Its last annual 
report shows 34,799 lodgings and 100,450 meals given, 3843 
situations secured, and an average daily attendance at the 
rooms of nearly 1800. 


For many years some attention has been given to special ef¬ 
fort for boys. Many associations conduct a thoroughly 
organized and broad work of this character. In the 1899 
Year book nearly 300 associations report definite work for 
boys with a membership of over 19,000, an average daily at¬ 
tendance of 6000, 15,000 volumes in boys’ libraries, 12,800 
using physical means, 4470 religious meetings with a total 
attendance of 157,721, and 2937 Bible class sessions with a 
total attendance of 48,009. Boys to the number of 1209 
graduated from this department into the association proper, 
and experience teaches that many of the most valued workers 
are those who come into the association through the boys’ 
department. 


The women of America have always been interested in this 
work for their sons and brothers, and the potent influence and 
earnest effort peculiar to their sex could not well be dispensed 
with. Of late years their aid has been given systematically 
through organizations styled auxiliaries, or by means of a com¬ 
mittee appointed in the same way as other committees of the 
association. Their help is required specially along social lines. 
The latest reports show that this work is organized in connec¬ 
tion with nearly 500 associations. 

Ill Work for special classes 

The present intercollegiate movement began in 1877. A few 
college associations had been in existence for some years, but 




t 



PRINCETON UNIVERSITY 

JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY 
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO 
DARTMOUTH COLLEGE 


CORNELL UNIVERSITY 
UNIVERSITY OF IOWA 
YALE UNIVERSITY 


REPRESENTATIVE STUDENT YOUNG MEN’S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

BUILDINGS 







































» ' 






























. • » • 


I 


































YOUNG MEN’S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATIONS OF NORTH AMERICA 1/ 

there was little activity or uniformity in methods and no inter¬ 
collegiate relationships. But in this year a college secretary 
of the international committee was placed in the field, and the 
progress of the work has since been continuous. There are 
now 550 student associations with a membership of more than 
30,000. These include nearly all the leading institutions — 
colleges and theological and medical schools — which are knit 
together by a unique system of correspondence, visitation and 
conferences. The work follows definite and thoroughly out¬ 
lined plans and is recognized as the most potent factor in the 
religious life of the colleges. Forty theological institutions 
representing all the leading evangelical denominations have 
recently become affiliated with the movement. The interna¬ 
tional supervision has increased with the growing work till io 
men are now employed, their work being classified as follows: 
executive and office three, Bible study supervision one, visita¬ 
tion six — three for the colleges in the east, the south and the 
west, and one each for the three special fields, the theological 
seminaries and professional and preparatory schools. Many 
state officers also give more or less of their time to the super¬ 
vision of this department in their several fields. Four student 
summer conferences are held — in the east, south, central west, 
and on the Pacific coast — to promote the study of the Bible, 
association methods and foreign mission work, while in special 
conferences presidents are trained for leadership and other 
members for deputation visiting, to supplement the work of the 
traveling secretaries. At the summer conferences of 1899, 381 
institutions were represented by 1187 students, a larger num¬ 
ber than in any previous year. The Bible study work of this 
department is very strong. A four years’ cycle, with specially 
prepared courses is in operation, and 10,500 students were en¬ 
rolled in these classes during the past year. Many convenient 
buildings are being provided for the college associations and 
more than 30 paid general secretaries give their time to the 
local supervision. 


2 


is 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


There have been many important outgrowths from the stu¬ 
dent work, among them the following: 

1 The student summer conference at Northfield beginning 
in 1885 and since duplicated elsewhere in this and other lands. 

2 The student volunteer movement through which more 
than 1500 have already entered the foreign field, chiefly as mis¬ 
sionaries under the various church boards. The traveling sec¬ 
retaries of this movement visit the associations throughout the 
field, while the educational secretary fosters mission study 
classes, in which there are over 4000 students. 

3 The later movement of the Young women’s Christian 
association. 

4 The introduction of the association into schools in mis¬ 
sion lands. 

5 The foreign work of the American international com¬ 
mittee. 

6 The World’s student Christian federation, organized in 
1895, and through which at the present time the Christian 
students of the world — including 11 national and inter¬ 
national student organizations — are brought into helpful re¬ 
lationship and made a potent force for combined moral and 
religious action. 

7 The introduction of the English Bible as a department of 
study in colleges. 

8 The attraction of college students in greater numbers into 
distinctly religious callings, including association work. 

9 Promotion of individual Bible study and a greatly in¬ 
creased religious activity among college students. 

10 Many publications designed to aid students in Bible 
study and religious life and work. 

11 Affiliating the great body of Christian students so thor¬ 
oughly with the association and religious work that their in¬ 
terest continues during after life. 

12 Enlisting in the cause of missions many who, as future 
leaders in thought and men of wealth, will be able to greatly 
promote its welfare. 



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DECATUR, ILL. 

TEXARKANA; TEX. ARGENTINE, KAN, 

TEMPLE, TEXAS. 

POPLAR BLUFF. MO. 


SMITHVILLE, TEXAS 
CLEBURNE, TEXAS 
W. 72ND ST., NEW YORK 
MONETT, MO. 
‘ DU BOIS, PA. 


THE TWELVE RAILROAD ASSOCIATION BUILDINGS ERECTED IN 1899 






















































































YOUNG MEN’S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATIONS OF NORTH AMERICA 1 9 

13 Through this agency during the past 22 years between 
35,000 and 40,000 students have been led into the Christian life 
and over 5000 into the Christian ministry. 


The present work for railroad men began in 1872. Many 
previous efforts had been made by railroad companies for the 
mental and moral betterment of their employees, but the libra¬ 
ries and reading rooms were little frequented, and in no case 
proved a permanent success. The association work in question 
had its origin in a religious awakening, resulting from ser¬ 
vices for railroad men held in the passenger waiting room at a 
railroad center. It was first proposed by Christian railroad 
men and conducted by members from the city association and 
the pastors. The converted men were earnest in their efforts 
for their fellow employees, and in order to furnish a suitable 
resort and a place for religious meetings convenient for the 
trainmen, the railroad officials, in concert with the city asso¬ 
ciation, secured and fitted up a commodious room in the passen¬ 
ger station. A competent man was placed in charge to welcome 
the men and exercise general supervision. Thus quietly was 
opened before the associations another door of vast and prac¬ 
tical opportunity. Success attended the effort and soon led 
to the adoption of similar means at other places; but being 
largely dependent for financial support on the railroad com¬ 
panies, who act purely from the stand-point of business inter¬ 
est and experience, the growth of the work was naturally slow 
during the experimental period. In 1877 *h e number of 
branches had increased to 19, a traveling secretary of the in¬ 
ternational committee was employed, and the work made more 
rapid advance. During the past two or three years, however, 
there has been more marked progress than ever before. In 
many cases the work is being taken up by systems, the com¬ 
panies asking for the establishment of associations at various 
division terminals, placing the secretaries on the corporation 



20 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


pay-roll, and often contributing the larger part toward an 
association building. During 30 days near the close of the 
past year eight new and fully equipped railroad associations 
were opened with new buildings free of debt, costing over 
$75,000, 75# of the amount being contributed by the rail¬ 
road companies. The force of international secretaries for 
this department has been increased to six, and is still unable to 
keep pace with the demands for organization and general super¬ 
vision. There are now 151 railroad associations, but as these 
are placed at terminal or focal points, where each is a center of 
influences, covering a large area, the department is not ade¬ 
quately expressed by the number of its organizations. The 
present membership is 32,000; 4061 are serving on committees* 
168 general and assistant secretaries are employed, 55 build¬ 
ings are either owned by the associations or set apart for their 
use. Besides the ordinary association agencies certain dis¬ 
tinctive ones are employed, such as the rest room, where train¬ 
men can sleep within easy call, baths at all hours, lunch counter, 
temporary hospital, instruction in first aid, visits to sick and 
injured, and a railway library from which books may be drawn 
by catalogue anywhere on the line. Memberships are usually 
reciprocal, entitling the holder of a ticket at one point to the 
privileges at all others. The association is highly prized by 
the employees to large numbers of whom it is a real home. 
To many also it offers the only available religious services, 
through which numbers have been led into the Christian life. 
Many are saved from intemperance and kindred vices, and in 
some localities evil resorts have been driven out by the with¬ 
drawal of the trainmen’s patronage. As a single instance, a 
saloon keeper made the complaint that his income had fallen 
off from $3000 to less than $700 a month since the opening of 
one of these buildings. The work has the hearty commenda¬ 
tion of leading railroad officials on the roads where it is in 
operation, and many of them are among its most earnest sup¬ 
porters. The belief in its utility is practically shown by ap- 


YOUNG MEN’S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATIONS OF NORTH AMERICA 21 


propriations toward its support (not including sums given for 
buildings) of over $175,000 a year. The United States inter¬ 
state commerce commission designates it as “ a work com¬ 
mending itself even on the most practical grounds of pecuniary 
self-interest.” 


American cities are cosmopolitan in their population and the 
associations are thronged with young men of foreign birth, who 
are heartily welcomed. In some cases it has seemed advisable 
to attempt a separate organization for certain classes of non- 
English-speaking young men, but it is becoming more and 
more the practice to assimilate these different elements with 
the American branches. 

Work among the Africo-American young men was urged by 
southern delegates at the international convention in 1876. 
Three years later an international secretary was placed in 
charge of the work. The growth of this department has been 
along conservative lines and full of difficulties, but there are 
now in existence 65 associations, 48 of them being in institu¬ 
tions of learning. 

Since 1877 work has been attempted among the Sioux In¬ 
dians, where about 50 associations have been organized and 
much good is being done. A young man of the tribe, who has 
had a three years’ course of training in the Springfield secre¬ 
tarial school, is in charge. 

The broad and flexible methods of the association adapt its 
work to all classes of men and to every variety of condition. 
Besides its many-sided city work and the special departments 
already outlined there are many other fields less important only 
because less in extent or less fully developed. Effective work 
has been done among the thousands of young men in the 
lumber districts, specially in the upper lake region. At the 
state and provincial militia encampments well-equipped asso¬ 
ciation rooms are improvised in tents; the soldiers are at¬ 
tracted by the home papers, books and magazines, music, par- 



22 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


lor and outdoor games, conveniences for letter-writing and 
social entertainments; religious literature is distributed and 
earnest religious services are conducted. The result in an im¬ 
proved camp morale is such as to win the hearty approval and 
cooperation of the officers. Commercial travelers — a numer¬ 
ous class and mostly young men — are granted special mem¬ 
bership tickets, honored reciprocally in nearly all city associa¬ 
tions. Special effort is made in many cities and sections in be¬ 
half of firemen, sailors, miners, artisans and mill men. Also in 
many towns the male wards of hospitals and prisons are sys¬ 
tematically visited, religious services being conducted or per¬ 
sonal conversation held with the men. The associations as a 
rule are on the alert for opportunities, where they may be help¬ 
ful to young men, and seek to adapt their methods to every 
new problem of rational endeavor. 


Mention has been made of the part taken by the associations 
in the army relief work during the civil war of 1861-1865, and 
also of the work conducted by many of the state committees in 
the militia camps. When the late war with Spain broke out 
another door of opportunity was generally and at once recog¬ 
nized. Letters and telegrams began to pour in at the inter¬ 
national office urging immediate action, and three days after 
the president’s first call for volunteers a meeting was held to 
formulate the work. The nucleus of an army and navy com¬ 
mittee was formed, one of the field secretaries was detailed as 
its executive officer, and within one week Washington had been 
visited, the cooperation of the government authorities ob¬ 
tained, and men and equipments were on their way to the front. 
The state committees with few exceptions also took up the 
work, and did at the state camps what the international com¬ 
mittee essayed to do in the national ones. Within two months’ 
time there were in operation no less than 40 regimental and 
brigade tents, with good all-round association equipments, and 












ASSOCIATION ROOM, MILITARY HOSPITAL No. 1, HAVANA, CUBA 




























































































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LIBRARY 



CORRESPONDENCE ROOM 

ARMY ASSOCIATION- INTERIORS, SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO 




























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YOUNG MEN’S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATIONS OF NORTH AMERICA 23 

in charge of 60 trained secretaries. Never before did the 
association so measure up to a grand opportunity and so de¬ 
monstrate the adaptability of its methods and the thorough¬ 
ness of its organization. 

The work was maintained through the campaign, tents and 
secretaries following the troops to Cuba, Puerto Rico and the 
Philippines, as many as 90 tents being in operation under the 
supervision of 175 secretaries. The tents were large and airy, 
generally 40 by 60 feet in size. Facilities for correspondence 
were given free, nearly 4,000,000 sheets of letter paper with 
envelops being furnished, for some time at a cost of $1000 
per week, and ice water at an expense of $100 per day. An 
organ and song books were placed in each tent, papers and 
magazines were kept on file, games of skill and recreative en¬ 
tertainments were provided and Bible classes and gospel ser¬ 
vices were held. Sixty thousand Testaments, as many of the 
Army and navy song books, 10,000 Medical rules for camp 
life, and tons of tracts, books and magazines were distrib¬ 
uted. The tents were open at all times for the use of the 
army chaplains and services were frequently held by evan¬ 
gelists, a section of the army and navy committee under the 
chairmanship of D. L. Moody, furnishing a large number of 
these workers. Such meetings were often attended by from 
500 to 2000 men, and large numbers were led to accept Christ 
as their personal Saviour. 

The association workers were untiring in their efforts and 
won the universal respect and good will of both officers and 
men. In the field they were found even on the firing line with 
their first aid packages, and rendered valuable service to the 
sick and dying in the hospitals. Many of the secretaries them¬ 
selves suffered from sickness and several sacrificed their lives in 
the work. 

For the sailors a similar, though less extensive work was 
carried on, particularly in the large naval rendezvous at Key 
West, where a building was opened and fitted up as an asso- 


24 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


ciation headquarters, and many of the warships were visited 
by the secretaries. 

The hearty approval by officers and men of the association’s 
work in the army and navy during the campaign of 1898, and 
urgent requests for its continuance and extension, led to its 
being made a permanent department of the international com¬ 
mittee. Associations have been established during the past 
year at various points occupied by the troops in Cuba, Puerto 
Rico and the Philippines, and many auxiliary organizations 
formed in the regiments in the field. Associations have also 
been organized at many home army posts, and the work is re¬ 
ceived with general favor. By request of the War department 
the international committee sends representatives with many 
of the troop ships to the Philippines, and with them a supply 
of stationery and reading matter for the use of the men en 
route. Large quantities of such material are also shipped to 
the associations in the distant fields, more than 25 tons 
having passed through the international office during the past 
year, besides that sent direct from other sources. A generous 
friend of the work has donated a large number of books, which 
are arranged in traveling libraries, containing about 50 vol¬ 
umes each, to be circulated among the army post associations. 
Some 20 such libraries are already in use. 

A thoroughly organized work is also being carried on in the 
navy. A general Naval young men’s Christian association 
has been formed with prominent naval officers on its super¬ 
vising committee, and membership tickets are issued which 
entitle the holders to privileges in any naval branch, and in the 
city associations in the principal seaport towns. A naval branch 
with attractive rooms, restaurant and dormitories has been 
opened in rented quarters near the New York navy yard, 
and it is expected to soon supply its place with a commodious 
building, erected for the purpose. Auxiliary associations are 
also being formed on many of the warships. 


YOUNG MEN’S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATIONS OF NORTH AMERICA 25 

The introduction of the association into Christian colleges 
in foreign mission lands, beginning with 1884, and chiefly 
through the efforts of teachers formerly identified with col¬ 
lege associations in America, created strong ties between these 
associations at home and abroad. And as experience proved 
the success of the transplanted college work, the question also 
arose regarding the needs of the young men of the cities and 
the adaptation of the ordinary association methods to them. 
This thought, which all along had been in the hearts of the 
leading association workers in America, was first given to the 
public at the Northfield student summer conference of 1887 
in an appeal from a veteran missionary for men to inaugurate 
the work in India. Later, a formal request for such action 
came to the American committee from a representative body 
of missionaries on the field. The question was also favorably 
‘'discussed by the world’s conference at Stockholm in August, 
1888. In December of that year an American international sec¬ 
retary started on a round-the-world tour of inspection as the 
representative of the world’s committee. The international 
convention of 1889, formally authorized the sending of secre¬ 
taries of the American committee to foreign mission fields for 
the purpose of establishing model associations at certain strate¬ 
gic centers and training native Christian young men to carry 
on the work. This was to be done in cooperative harmony 
with the resident missionaries of the various church boards. 
In accordance with this action two men were commissioned 
as secretaries, respectively, for India and Japan, both starting 
from New York, October 2, 1889, and taking up the work, the 
former in Madras and the latter in Tokyo. This line of effort 
has been continued by the committee till its foreign work de¬ 
partment has now 18 men in the field, six having been 
sent out during 1899. In Japan the foundations for a strong 
native work are being laid, more particularly among the stU'- 
dent class. Tokyo has an excellent city association, with capa¬ 
ble Japanese supervision and an attractive and commodious 


26 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


building costing $60,000, while a well-adapted building for the 
student work has been erected and opened during the past 
year. India and Ceylon are thoroughly organized and have a 
substantial and growing work. They number at least 125 as¬ 
sociations with more than 6000 members. They own several 
exceptionally fine buildings, that at Madras costing $66,000, 
and the student building in Calcutta $75,000. In China five 
men are located at as many centers, at one of which a suitable 
building has been erected, and the general outlook is very 
encouraging. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, has a thriving associa¬ 
tion, which occupies an excellent building, recently erected for 
its use. This fruitage is very largely from the sowing, and 
much of it the direct result of the planning and labors of the 
American committee. 

PARIS DECLARATION 
(Adopted by the World’s conference in Paris, 1855) 

The Young men’s Christian associations seek to unite 
those young men, who, regarding Jesus Christ as their God 
and Saviour, according to the Holy Scriptures, desire to be 
His disciples, in their doctrine and in their life, and to associate 
their efforts for the extension of His kingdom among young 
men. 

PORTLAND RESOLUTIONS 
(Adopted by the International convention in Portland, Me., 

1869) 

Resolved, That, as these organizations bear the name of 
Christian, and profess to be engaged directly in the Saviour’s 
service, so it is clearly their duty to maintain the control and 
management of all their affairs in the hands of those who pro¬ 
fess to love and publicly avow their faith in Jesus, the Re¬ 
deemer, as Divine, and who testify their faith by becoming 
and remaining members of churches held to be evangelical. 
And we hold those churches to be evangelical, which, main¬ 
taining the Holy Scriptures to be the only infallible rule of 
faith and practice, do believe in the Lord Jesus Christ (the only 
begotten of the Father, King of kings, and Lord of lords, in 
whom dwelleth the fulness of the Godhead bodily, and who 



WEST SIDE BRANCH, NEW YORK ASSOCIATION 















































































































































- - 





















































































- - • 


































- * 


I 


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to ■ 

























» • 




































YOUNG MEN’S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATIONS OF NORTH AMERICA 27 

was made sin for us, though knowing no sin, bearing our sins 
in His own body on the tree), as the only name under heaven 
given among men whereby we must be saved from everlasting 
punishment, and unto life eternal. 

Resolved, That the associations organized after this date 
shall be entitled to representation in future conferences of the 
associated Young men’s Christian associations of North 
America, upon condition that they be severally composed of 
young men in communion with evangelical churches; provided, 
that in places where associations are formed by a single de¬ 
nomination, members of other denominations are not excluded 
therefrom, and active membership and the right to hold office 
be conferred only upon young men who are members in good 
standing of evangelical churches. 














































































































































































































































































































Department of Social Economy 


FOR THE 

United States Commission to the Paris Exposition of 1900 


MONOGRAPHS 

ON 

AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


EDITOR 

HERBERT B. ADAMS 

Professor of American History in Johns Hopkins University 
ASSOCIATE EDITOR 

RICHARD WATERMAN jr 


XIX 

THE PAST AND PRESENT CONDITION 

OF 

PUBLIC HYGIENE AND STATE MEDICINE 


IN THE 


UNITED STATES 


BY 

SAMUEL W. ABBOTT 

Secretary of the State Board of Health of Massachusetts 


This Monograph is contributed to the United States Social Economy Exhibit 
by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts 





Copyright 1900 
BY 

Samuel W. Abbott 


PRINTED BY THE 

Wright & Potter Printing Company 
Boston Mass. U. S. A. 


Table of Contents 


PAGE 

Introductory.5 

Organization of state boards of health.9 

National health organization . . . . . . . . 14 

Voluntary health organizations . . . . . . . 16 

The management and control of infectious diseases . . . . 19 

Quarantine ........... 28 

Food and drug inspection . . . . . . . . 32 

Public water-supplies.35 

Sewerage and sewage disposal ........ 40 

School hygiene and medical inspection of schools .... 44 

Municipal hygiene ......... 46 

Industrial hygiene.57 

Burial of the dead.58 

Railway hygiene.63 

Vital statistics.65 

Rural hygiene.70 

The climate of the United States.73 

Mineral Springs.75 

The relation of the general government to public health ... 76 

State medicine.78 

Medical education.78 

Registration of medical practitioners . . . . . . 81 

Inquest systems of the United States ...... 84 

Appendix.86 



















Explanation of the Charts 


PAGE 

No. i Chart representing the per capita expenditure by state boards 

of health for sanitary purposes in 1898 . . Facing title-page 

No. 2 Chart showing the percentage of the population supplied with 

public water in each state in i860.36 

No. 3 Chart showing the percentage of the population supplied with 

public water in each state in 1896-1897 . . . . 37 

No. 4 Chart showing the percentage of the population supplied with 

public sewers in each state in 1896-1897 ... 43 

No. 5 Chart showing the number of inhabitants to each physician in 

each state.81 

No. 6 Chart illustrating the methods of registration of medical 

practitioners in each state ..83 


The six statistical maps of the United States published in this monograph were prepared 
by Prof W. Z. Ripley of the Massachusetts institute of technology. 





Introductory 


In the following monograph it is the writer’s intention to 
show in as brief a manner as possible the progress which has 
been attained in the United States in matters pertaining to 
the public health* The chief topics relating to this subject 
will be presented concisely, and lengthy details will be avoided 
except in a few illustrative instances. The term “ hygiene ” 
is well defined as follows in the introductory sketch by Dr 
John S. Billings in Buck’s Treatise on hygiene and public 
health (New York 1879) to which the reader is referred for 
a full discussion of its history in the United States. Other 
excellent sketches may be found in some of the annual 
addresses of the presidents of the American public health 
association and in other published papers of the same charac¬ 
ter in the proceedings of that association. 

In its broader sense, the study of hygiene includes the exam¬ 
ination of the conditions which affect the generation, development, 
growth and decay of individuals, of nations, and of races, being on 
its scientific side coextensive with biology in its broadest sense, 
including sociology, rather than with physiology merely, as some 
writers state. 

He further says: 

It can be shown that the direct pecuniary loss to this country 
on account of preventable sickness and mortality is certainly over 
$100,000,000, annually, and this without taking into account 
expenditures incurred on account of sickness, etc., or the unusual 
losses due to great epidemics, both from waste of life and injury to 
commerce. 

It is evident, therefore, that hygiene is not only a subject of 
scientific interest to the student, or to medical men, but that to the 
political economist and to the legislator its problems and dis¬ 
coveries ought to be of great practical importance — greater, in 
fact, than many of the subjects with which those gentlemen usually 
occupy themselves; and, at first sight, it may seem strange that it 
should not receive more attention and consideration from politicians 



6 


PUBLIC HYGIENE IN THE UNITED STATES 


and legislative bodies than we actually find to be the case. A 
standing committee on public health would be about the last com¬ 
mittee that either congress or a state legislature would think of 
organizing. 

The foregoing statement was published just 20 years ago, 
and as a proof of decided change of sentiment upon this 
subject it is a fact that such committees now form a part of 
the organizations of state legislatures in very many of the 
older states, and are also supplemented by other committees 
organized for the consideration of water supplies, sewerage 
and drainage, and other questions pertaining to public hygiene. 

The term 44 state medicine ” is a broader term than public 
hygiene since the former includes the latter, together with 
legal medicine, medical education, and all subjects which treat 
of the relation of the physician to the state. In this mono¬ 
graph the two topics of medical registration and the inquest 
laws have received consideration since very decided progress 
has taken place in the former in nearly every state, and in a 
few states the inquest laws have been entirely remodeled. 

The discoveries of Pasteur have revolutionized, not only 
many of the departments of medicine, but also the operations 
of agriculture, and the states of the Union have not been slow 
to recognize the value of his work, and of its important bear¬ 
ing on the welfare of the human race, and to apply the 
principles involved in Pasteur’s discoveries to the rapidly 
increasing population of the new world. 

Dr Jenner had discovered and brought to public notice the 
protective power of vaccination at the very threshold of the 
19th century, and Dr Waterhouse of Cambridge, Mass, had 
sent to Dr Jenner within a few months of his discovery, for a 
supply of lymph, from which the practice was introduced in 
the eastern states of the Union. Very soon after this no less 
a personage than the third president of the United States, 
Thomas Jefferson, sent to Dr Waterhouse for supplies of 
lymph, and from these sources the practice soon spread 
throughout every town and hamlet in the 13 thinly settled 


INTRODUCTORY 


7 


states of the Union. As a necessary result the death-rate from 
small-pox in the United States in the 19th century has been 
reduced to a mere fraction as compared with that of the 18th. 

But, while Jenner had by observation and experiment found 
out the value of vaccination, he neither comprehended nor 
recognized the foundation principle which accounts for the 
spread of all contagious diseases — the germ theory of infec¬ 
tion, the true natural history of which was not understood till 
the latter half of the 19th century, when Pasteur had first 
penetrated the veil, and was soon followed by a host of other 
observers who have pursued similar lines of inquiry in regard 
to the nature of cholera, typhoid fever, yellow fever, diph¬ 
theria, tuberculosis, anthrax, tetanus and other diseases. 
Having once learned the source and methods of infection in 
the different kinds of diseases, it remained to apply the 
knowledge thus gained to the great and important work of 
disease prevention. 

It is the exercise of this function, the prevention of disease, 
which forms the first and most important duty of sanitary 
authorities. 

In a monograph of this character the various topics per¬ 
taining to public hygiene must necessarily be treated in an 
extremely concise, condensed manner, and must also be shorn 
of extended details. It is for this reason, therefore, that a 
few tables of statistics have been introduced in order that the 
facts relating to the subjects may be given in the least possible 
space. 

If the writer were called upon to state in the briefest man¬ 
ner possible what are the most prominent points in relation to 
public health in the United States, to-day, he would mention 
first of all the marvelous rapidity with which the introduction 
of public water supplies has been effected in the past 25 
years, specially in the states west of the Mississippi valley. 
Second, the stimulus which has been given to the methods 
employed for preventing the spread of infectious diseases, 
through the agency of bacteriological investigations and the 


8 


PUBLIC HYGIENE IN THE UNITED STATES 


establishment of public and private laboratories for aiding 
sanitary work. 

Third, the necessity of providing a central bureau or 
department, having authority to collect the vital statistics of 
the United States, from the different states and territories, 
and to publish the results of the same. It should also be the 
duty of such bureau to secure uniformity in the methods of 
collection and presentation in all parts of the country. 

Fourth, the need of one strong, central sanitary organization 
at Washington to cooperate with and to aid state and munic¬ 
ipal sanitary authorities in every branch of public hygiene. 
The duty of collecting and publishing the vital statistics of the 
country might properly be entrusted to such an organization. 

The imperfect character of some of the observations noted 
in this monograph is accounted for by the fact that all of the 
information obtained from sanitary authorities, of whatever 
kind, has been entirely voluntary, and consequently less com¬ 
plete than that which could have been obtained by a national 
sanitary authority authorized to collect information by 
statutory requirement, had such an authority existed. The 
thanks of the compiler are, therefore, the more heartily 
extended to all those authorities who have cheerfully aided 
him, at the cost of considerable time and trouble, with such 
information as was sought. 



STATE BOARDS OF HEALTH 


9 


Organization of State Boards of Health 

Public health in the United States, as in all other countries, 
has been a question of evolution from small beginnings, and 
is of comparatively recent growth. 

The laws relating to this subject enacted by the general 
government and by the states reflect the attitude of the 
people. The number of such laws which appear in the early 
history of the colonies is not large. It is, however, a matter 
of interest to know that the early settlers soon after arriving 
in America recognized the need of definite knowledge on this 
subject, and of preserving their records, which constitute the 
foundation stone of public hygiene, by enacting a law in 1639, 
that “ there be records kept, ... of the days of every mar¬ 
riage, birth, and death of every person in this jurisdiction ”. 

Progress in this direction during the first two centuries of 
the new nation’s growth was slow and proportionate to the 
sparsity of the new settlements, density of population, from 
necessity constituting a prime factor in promoting public 

/ Jjealth measures. 

Up to the close of the 18th century, and for several decades 
of the 19th, almost the only health legislation which was 
enacted in the different states of the Union consisted in a 
few laws relating to small-pox, since this pestilence was 
I scarcely ever absent for many years at a time from any city, 
town or village, till after the general introduction of vac¬ 
cination. 

A serious epidemic of cholera prevailed in Europe in 1831, 
reaching America in 1832, and invading the country by way 
of Quebec and Montreal, scarcely any of the cities and large 
towns escaping its ravages. New Orleans alone lost more 
than 8000 of its citizens from this cause, out of a total popu¬ 
lation of about 55,000. But this epidemic does not appear to 
have taught the lesson of public health and cleanliness, and it 
was reserved for the epidemic of 1848 and 1849 to thoroughly 


IO 


PUBLIC HYGIENE IN THE UNITED STATES 


arouse the people to the importance of initiating public sani¬ 
tary measures. A case of cholera had already been reported 
at quarantine in New York harbor in December 1848, the 
disease was prevailing with unusual severity in eastern 
countries, and there was great fear, specially in the eastern 
states of the Union (which were then more permanently 
occupied with settled towns and cities than the western 
states), lest the experience of 1832 should be repeated. It 
was this condition of affairs which undoubtedly led the 
Massachusetts legislature of 1849 to enact a resolve calling 
for the appointment of a commission to make a sanitary 
survey of the state and to report upon the same. 

This commission was appointed by the governor of Massa¬ 
chusetts, July 3, 1849. The appointment was made none too 
soon, for in that year the general sanitary condition of the 
state, as shown by the succeeding report of the commission, 
as well as by the unusually high death-rate, was deplorable. 
Only a few towns had then introduced public water-supplies, 
cholera was beginning to appear again, and dysentery and 
other infectious diseases were more destructive than they had 
been for many years. 

The report of that commission was an extremely valuable 
document. It was at once intelligent, thorough, compre¬ 
hensive and prophetic, and though several years elapsed after 
its publication before a general board of health was estab¬ 
lished in any state, 1 it is nevertheless true, that when such 
boards were established, the general plan laid down in 
this report was adopted, and now appears essentially in the 
organic acts establishing such state boards throughout 
the Union. 

The first 3 state boards of health were organized in 3 
widely separated states, Louisiana, Massachusetts and Cali¬ 
fornia, in the order named; and these were followed by 


i) The Louisiana board created in 1855 could hardly be classed as a state board of 
health though so named in its organic act, since it was created almost entirely for maintain¬ 
ing a quarantine to protect the city of New Orleans. See appendix 3. 



STATE BOARDS OF HEALTH 


I I 


the establishment of similar general boards in Virginia, 
Minnesota and Michigan. The states and territories which 
have thus far established state boards of health, with the dates 
of organization, are given in the following list: 


Louisiana, 1855 
Massachusetts, June 1869 
California, March 1870 
Virginia, February 1872 
Minnesota, March 1872 
Michigan, 1873 
Maryland, April 1874 
Alabama, January 1875 
Georgia, June 1875 
Colorado, February 1876 
Wisconsin, March 1876 
Mississippi, February 1877 
New Jersey, March 1877 
Tennessee, March 1877 
Illinois, May 1877 
Connecticut, January 1878 
Kentucky, March 1878 
Rhode Island, April 1878 
South Carolina, December 1878 
Delaware, 1879 
North Carolina, 1879 


Iowa, March 1880 
New York, May 1880 
Arkansas, March 1881 
Indiana, March 1881 
West Virginia, March 1881 
New Hampshire, August 1881 
Missouri, March 1883 
Maine, February 1885 
Kansas, March 1885 
Pennsylvania, June 1885 
Ohio, April 1886 
Vermont, November 1886 
Florida, February 1889 
North Dakota, 1889 
Nebraska, March 1891 
Washington, March 1891 
Oklahoma, March 1891 
South Dakota, March 1891 
Nevada, March 1893 
New Mexico, February 1895 
Utah, February 1898 


Further comment on the organization of these boards may 
be found in appendix 3. 

As social civilization has proceeded from the less to the 
greater, from the town and city to the county, and from the 
aggregation of these to the state, and then to the general 
government, so also the history of sanitary organization shows 
a similar order, the town board being the earliest unit of sani¬ 
tary authority, then the state boards, and finally the national 
board which was not organized till 1879. 

The city or town board of health is and always has been 
the most firmly established organization, and is usually clothed 
with the most arbitrary powers for the protection of each local 
community or municipality. 


12 


PUBLIC HYGIENE IN THE UNITED STATES 


In general, it may be said that the work of state boards of 
health has not been largely of an executive character, but has 
been eminently didactic, and much good has been accom¬ 
plished by the publication and distribution of tracts, circulars 
and pamphlets relating to the various departments of public 
health, and by the holding of frequent conventions or 
assemblies for the free discussion of sanitary subjects. 

As a general rule state boards of health do not have 
authority over local boards in sanitary matters, 1 but in some 
instances are authorized to exercise coordinate power with 
them in preventing the spread of infectious diseases, either 
within the limits of municipalities or along the border of other 
states or countries. 

The most important branch of public hygiene is the man¬ 
agement and control of infectious diseases, and while the state 
boards of health are, from their necessary composition, not so 
closely in touch with the people as the municipal boards, yet 
they are capable of doing excellent service in educating the 
people in this important sanitary question. In those states 
which are the most densely settled, and are of comparatively 
small area, it has been possible for the general boards to 
perform a considerable amount *-bf executive work, and to 
carry out the provisions of such laws as have given them 
authority to act for the protection of the public health. 

In several of the states, notably those of the western part of 
the Union, the function of regulating the practice of medicine 
has been added to the more distinctive duties of public 
sanitation. 

A valuable summary of the powers and duties of state 
boards of health as they existed in 1879, may be found in Dr 
Billings’ Introduction to the volumes on hygiene published in 
New York by Dr A. H. Buck. 2 In this summary Dr Billings 
says — ‘ ‘ The state board of health should be the central 


1) See appendix 3, for note on a new law of the state of Indiana. 

2) A Treatise on hygiene and public health, edited by Albert H. Buck, M.D. v. 1, 
p. 55. W. Wood & Co., N. Y. 1879. 



STATE BOARDS OF HEALTH 


13 


supervising authority, having much the same relation to local 
boards, that the local board has to the households. Its 
functions may be classed as follows: 1) to promote the 
organization of local and municipal boards; 2) to obtain 
medical and vital statistics; 3) to investigate the causes of 
undue sickness and mortality; 4) the removal of these 
causes, acting as far as possible through the local sanitary 
authorities; 5) the supervision of the hygiene of state insti¬ 
tutions ; 6) the supervision of quarantine.’^ 

The following table presents the per capita expenditure of 
each state board of health in 1898, upon an estimated popu¬ 
lation for that year. For a more extended explanation and 
table see appendix 1, and chart facing title-page. 


ANNUAL PER CAPITA EXPENDITURE OF STATE BOARDS OF HEALTH 

(Population estimated to 1898) 




Fraction 


Groups 

States and territories 

of 

Francs 


dollar 


Over 

2 cents 


' Florida 

.0866 

•45° 


Vermont 

.0301 

.160 


w Massachusetts 

.0236 

.120 



' Rhode Island 

.0167 

.087 

1 cent 
to 

2 cents 


Texas 

.OI44 

•°75 


Mississippi 

.0141 

.074 


Maine 

.OI12 

.059 


New Hampshire 

.0106 

•055 



Minnesota 

.0105 

•055 



rUtah 

.OO98 

.051 

5 mills 
to 

1 cent 


Connecticut 

.OO92 

.048 


New Jersey 

.0089 

.046 


Delaware 

.OO7O 

•037 


New Mexico 

•0055 

.029 



New York 

.0052 

.027 



' Maryland 

.OO49 

.026 



Colorado 

.0042 

.022 



North Dakota 

.OO4O 

.021 



Ohio 

.OO4O 

.021 



Louisiana 

.OO4O 

.021— 



Arkansas 

.OO36 

.019 

2 mills 


Michigan 

•0035 

.018 

to 

- 

Oklahoma 

.OO32 

.017 

5 mills 


Tennessee 

.0029 

.015 


Wisconsin 

.0028 

.015 



California 

.0027 

.014 



Iowa 

.0023 

.012 



Indiana 

.0021 + 

.011 



Illinois 

.0021 

.Oil 



t Alabama 

.0020 

.010 


Groups 

States and territories 

Fraction 

of 

dollar 

F rancs 



' West Virginia 

.0017 

.009 



Missouri 

.0016 

.008 



Kansas 

.OOI5 

,..008 



Nevada 

• .0015 

.008 

T ACC 


Kentucky 

.0012 

.006 

than 


South Carolina 

.0012— 

.006 


1 

North Carolina 

• OOII 

.006 

2 mills 


Virginia 

.OOII 

.006 



Pennsylvania 

.OOIO 

.005 



South Dakota 

.OOIO— 

.005 



Washington 

.0007— 

.003 



Nebraska 

.OOOI 

.0006 



' Arizona 

.OOOO 

.OOO 



Georgia 

.OOOO 

.OOO 



Idaho 

.OOOO 

.OOO 

O 


Montana 

.OOOO 

.OOO 



Oregon 

.OOOO 

.OOO 



Wyoming 

.OOOO 

.OOO 




























14 


PUBLIC HYGIENE IN THE UNITED STATES 


National Health Organization 

At the present time the United States is in the unfortunate 
position of being without any general health organization 
representing the national government, which can in any man¬ 
ner be compared with those of the countries of Europe, for 
example, the Comite consultatif d’hygiene of France, the 
Imperial board of health of Germany, or the Local govern¬ 
ment board of England. 

It is proper in this connection to give a brief review of the 
establishment, history and overthrow of the National board of 
health of the United States. The stimulus which led to the 
formation of this board was undoubtedly the same which has 
proved to be the initiative in the establishment of other similar 
general organizations, namely, the unusual prevalence in some 
part of the country of an epidemic disease. Asiatic cholera 
had visited the country in 1872 and 1873 to such an extent 
as to lead to the appointment of a commission by congress 
to investigate the prevalence of the disease and to report 
on it. 1 

This epidemic became general throughout the southern and 
western states, but did not extend eastward beyond the 
Alleghany mountains. Another disease which has visited our 
shores at irregular intervals, coming invariably from tropical 
regions south of the United States, is yellow fever. Wherever 
it makes its appearance the population becomes alarmed, is 
more or less demoralized, and industry is paralyzed for the 
time being. In 1878, yellow fever had prevailed with unusual 
severity in the Gulf states and Tennessee, and to some extent 
in Kentucky and Missouri, and had caused the death of nearly 
16,000 persons out of a total of about 74,000 cases. 2 

These facts proved to be a sufficient incentive for the 
organization of a general board of health which should have 


1) See U. S. government report upon cholera in 1873, 43d Cong., 2nd session. 
Ex. doc. No. 95. 

2) Dr Sternberg in Wood's reference handbook . v. 8, p. 45. 



NATIONAL BOARD OF HEALTH 


15 


in charge the sanitary interests of the whole country — and in 
March 1879, the following act was passed by congress creat¬ 
ing a National board of health : 


An Act to prevent the Introduction of Infectious or Contagious Diseases into 
the United States, and to establish a National Board of Health 

Be it enacted by the senate and house of representatives of the United States of America 
in congress assembled: 

§ 1 That there shall be established a National board of health to consist of seven mem¬ 
bers, to be appointed by the president, by and with the advice and consent of the senate, not 
more than one of whom shall be appointed from any one state, whose compensation, during 
the time when actually engaged in the performance of their duties under this act, shall be $10 
per diem each and reasonable expenses, and of one medical officer of the army, one medical 
officer of the navy, one medical officer of the marine hospital service, and one officer from 
the department of justice, to be detailed by the secretaries of the several departments and the 
attorney-general, respectively, and the officers so detailed shall receive no compensation. 
Said board shall meet in Washington within 30 days after the passage of this act, and in 
Washington or elsewhere from time to time upon notice from the president of the board, who 
is to be chosen by the members thereof, or upon his own adjournments, and shall frame all 
rules and regulations authorized or required by this act, and shall make or cause to be made 
such special examinations and investigations at any place or places within the United States, 
or at foreign ports, as they may deem best, to aid in the execution of this act and the promo¬ 
tion of its objects. 

§ 2 The duties of the National board of health shall be to obtain information upon all 
matters affecting the public health, to advise the several departments of the government, the 
executives of the several states, and the commissioners of the District of Columbia on all 
questions submitted by them, or whenever in the opinion of the board such advice may tend 
to the preservation and improvement of the public health. 

§ 3 That the board of health, with the assistance of the Academy of science, which is 
hereby requested and directed to cooperate with them for that purpose, shall report to 
Congress at its next session a full statement of its transactions, together with a plan for a 
national public health organization, which plan shall be prepared after consultation with the 
principal sanitary organizations and sanitarians of the several states of the United States, 
special attention being given to the subject of quarantine, both maritime and inland, and 
especially as to regulations which should be established between state or local systems of 
quarantine and a national quarantine system. 

§ 4 The sum of $50,000, or so much thereof as may be necessary, is hereby appropri¬ 
ated to pay the salaries and expenses of said board and carry out the purposes of this act. 

Approved March 3, 1879. 


The national board, immediately after its membership was 
completed, set about the duties required by the statute under 
which it was organized. Inspectors were appointed to visit 
the different quarantine stations and report without delay as 
to their condition and necessities. The action of the board 
met the cordial approval of the health officials of nearly every 
state in the Union, and its position was strengthened by 
further legislation in June 1879? but its usefulness as a public 
authority was destroyed at the end of the period during which 
the act was operative (four years) by the failure of congress 


1 6 PUBLIC HYGIENE IN THE UNITED STATES 

to make the necessary appropriations for the continuance of 
its work. 

The board had accomplished much useful sanitary work in 
the inspection of quarantine stations, in dealing with epidem¬ 
ics, specially the outbreak of yellow fever at Memphis and 
New Orleans in 1879, and had undertaken and entered upon 
very many scientific investigations which gave promise of 
results, which, if continued, would have reflected much credit 
not only on the board, but on the country which maintained 
it. These investigations as summarized in the report of the 
board for 1884, under 32 separate heads, comprised subjects 
in nearly every department of sanitary work. 

An examination of the reports of the board, together with 
the weekly bulletins which it published for several years, is 
sufficient proof of the good work accomplished during the 
operation of the act under which the board was constituted. 
The failure of congress to continue this useful work, and the 
final dissolution of the board, as a consequence, can only be 
regarded as a serious mistake, which should be remedied by 
its reestablishment upon such lines as will meet the general 
approval of all state and municipal authorities, with whose 
hearty cooperation, its own work and their own would be 
strengthened and made more efficient for the protection of 
the people. 


Voluntary Health Organizations 

On April 18, 1872, several gentlemen, mostly physicians, 
met in New York city for the purpose of considering the 
question of establishing a voluntary national organization for 
the promotion of sanitary science and the public health. This 
preliminary meeting was held at the New York hotel, and 
after deliberation, a committee was chosen to report a plan of 
organization at a subsequent meeting. 

This meeting was held, and a permanent organization of the 
American public health association was effected on September 
12, 1872, at Long Branch, New Jersey. 


VOLUNTARY ORGANIZATIONS 


17 


The following gentlemen were elected as its officers: 

President , Dr Stephen Smith, New York. 

1st Vice-President, Dr Edwin M. Snow, Providence, R. I. 

2d Vice-President , Dr C. B. White, New Orleans, La. 

Treasurer , Dr John H. Rauch, Chicago, Ill. 

Secretary , Dr Elisha Harris, New York. 

The next meetings were held at Cincinnati, Ohio, May 1, 
1873, and at New York city, November 11, 1873, and from 
that time onward meetings have been held annually in the 
fall of each year in different parts of the country, in order that 
members from all sections might be accommodated. The 
meetings have usually been opened on Tuesday morning and 
have continued four or five days, with evening sessions, at 
which papers have been read and discussed relating to all 
subjects connected with the work of public health. 

After the association had continued its work for 12 years, 
invitations were sent to the sanitary authorities of the British 
North American provinces to join it, which they did, and have 
formed a valuable addition to its membership. Later on, a 
similar invitation was sent to the states of Mexico, with the 
result of enlarging the scope and membership of the associa¬ 
tion still farther. The membership consists of sanitary officials 
of state and municipal boards of health, of delegates from the 
army, navy and marine hospital service, of chemists, engineers 
and bacteriologists, and of citizens in general who are inter¬ 
ested in sanitary science. 

It has proved to be a great public educator in matters per¬ 
taining to the health of the people, not only in the localities 
where its meetings have been held, but also through the 
medium of its published transactions, prize essays and other 
papers. It is not too much to say that its action has had a 
salutary influence in molding the work of public health at 
Washington. 

Within the association, committees on all the prominent 
topics connected with public sanitation have been organized, 


1 8 PUBLIC HYGIENE IN THE UNITED STATES 

and have proved extremely efficient in carrying out its special 
lines of work. Not the least of these is the committee on 
laboratories, which was organized at a recent meeting of the 
association. 

Another organization which is an outgrowth of this associ¬ 
ation is the National conference of state and provincial boards 
of health, which, after several preliminary meetings, was first 
convened at St Louis, in October 1884, the object and end of 
which is to secure cooperation and uniformity of methods of 
work among state or general boards of health. This organiza¬ 
tion at first held its meetings at the same place with the 
American public health association, but in later years has met 
at other times and places. The 13th annual report of its 
proceedings was published at Indianapolis, in August 1898. 

The American medical association is a much older organiza¬ 
tion, having been formed more than half a century ago. 
Recently, a section of this association was organized for the 
purpose of discussing questions relating to state medicine and 
public hygiene. This section meets annually at the same 
time and place with the association, and has proved to be a 
very important and useful department of its special lines of 
work. Many of the members of the American public health 
association are also members of this section. 

Another organization with objects closely allied to those 
already named is the American climatological association, 
which was organized at Washington May 3, 1884. Its first 
officers were Dr A. L. Loomis of New York city, President , 
Dr F. I. Knight of Boston, 1st Vice-President , Dr W. H. 
Geddings of Aiken, S. C., 2d Vice-President. The association 
has published an annual volume of its proceedings in each 
year since its organization. In addition to the foregoing, 
state sanitary organizations and conventions have been organ¬ 
ized in the older states and have held meetings regularly, 
usually once in each quarter, for the discussion of topics 
relating to sanitary science. It has usually been the policy of 
these organizations to change the place of meeting frequently, 


CONTROL OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES 


19 


in order to give an opportunity to the sanitary authorities 
and different districts to take part in the meetings, as a matter 
of mutual benefit to all. 

The oldest of these, the New Jersey sanitary association, had 
its 24th annual meeting at Lakewood, New Jersey, December 
9, 1898. Similar organizations exist in Vermont, New Hamp¬ 
shire, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio, Maryland, 
and other states. 

The Management and Control of Infectious Diseases 

This department of sanitary work constitutes the most 
important of all the duties, both of general and local boards of 
health. So far as state or general boards are concerned, the 
functions pertaining to this branch of work consist mainly 
in giving advice, in investigating the causes of outbreaks of 
disease, and in the circulation of general information among 
the people in regard to the methods of preventing the spread 
of disease. General boards are sometimes given coordinate 
powers with local boards, to be used in cases of emergency. 

The local board, on the other hand, in consequence of being 
(by reason of its mode of organization) in closer touch with 
each individual member of the community, is usually clothed 
with extraordinary power, for the purpose of dealing with 
infectious diseases whenever and wherever they are observed 
among the people. 

The operations of local boards of health in this direction are 
enforced by the aid of laws, ordinances and rules, and the 
different methods employed are first , notification, second , 
isolation and third , disinfection* To this may be added, for 
the purpose of securing immunity from certain diseases, the 
provision of vaccination as a protection against the dangers of 
small-pox, and of certain antitoxins for securing immunity 
against other diseases, notably against diphtheria. 

By far the greater use, however, of these latter products, 
has been of a therapeutic nature, in treating disease when 
actually existing in the individual. But custom has in this 


20 PUBLIC HYGIENE IN THE UNITED STATES 

case so closely associated the methods of prevention with 
those of treatment, as to place the distribution of such thera¬ 
peutic remedies largely within the control of the sanitary 
authority. 

Notification. Till within the past 20 years this important 
measure was scarcely recognized in the statutes except in the 
single instance of small-pox, such indefinite terms as “ other 
contagious diseases” or, “diseases dangerous to the public 
health” being largely employed previous to 1880. These 
doubtful terms gave somewhat discretionary powers to health 
boards, till laws were enacted defining the diseases which 
were notifiable, or gave to boards of health authority to state 
what diseases should be notified. 1 

It is now quite generally the custom throughout all the 
more densely settled states, and specially in the cities and 
large towns, to require notification of small-pox, diphtheria 
(including membranous croup), scarlet fever and typhoid 
fever. To these may be added in a more limited degree, 
measles, cerebro-spinal meningitis, yellow fever (chiefly in 
states south of lat. 36°), leprosy, Asiatic cholera, 2 whooping- 
cough and German measles. 

The growth of this important measure has been much 
more rapid in the United States in the past 10 years than in 
all other years preceding. 

Notwithstanding the general recognition of the infectious 
character of tuberculosis, the propriety of requiring its notifi¬ 
cation in common with other infectious diseases, and on 
similar terms, does not appear to have become generally 
acknowledged in the United States, and the only large city in 
which such notification is compulsory is New York, where 
by the following order of the board of health of the city, such 
notice is called for : 

§ 225 of the sanitary code, adopted January 19, 1897, classes 
pulmonary tuberculosis as “an infectious and communicable 
disease.” Under the provisions of this section hysicicms are 


1) In England the statutes give to districts local option in this matter except in London. 

2) This disease has not occurred within the United States since 1873. 



CONTROL OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES 


21 


required to report to the health department the name, address , 
age , sew, and occupation, of every case of pulmonary tuberculosis 
coming under their professional care. The information thus 
received is SOLELY FOR REGISTRATION, and cases so 
reported are not visited hy the inspectors of this department, nor 
are they interfered with in any way, except upon the request of 
the attending physician. 

The residences of all cases of tuberculosis reported to this 
department hy public institutions are visited by medical inspectors, 
who there give information with regard to the nature of the disease 
and the precautions necessary to prevent the infection of others. 
When residences occupied by consumptives are vacated through 
the death or removal of the patient, the inspectors recommend the 
renovation required to free them from infection. The orders for 
such renovation are enforced by the board of health. 

Postal cards for the notification of cases of tuberculosis, and 
circulars of information for physicians and for the public, can be 
obtained from this department upon application. 

Notification presents another advantage as an aid to the 
prognosis of disease, since by ascertaining quantitatively the 
amount of disease prevailing in a district, by means of a 
system of notification efficiently maintained, the health officer 
can compare the same with the mortality, and determine with 
a fair degree of accuracy the fatality of each disease to which 
the system is applied. 

In consequence of inquiries sent out by the commission in 
1899, information was secured in regard to 619,765 reported 
cases of small-pox, typhoid fever, scarlet fever, diphtheria and 
measles, which occurred in the years 1894, 1895, 1896, 1897, 
and 1898, together with 75,715 registered deaths from these 
diseases which occurred in the same years. These were 
reported by the following states and cities : 

STATES 1 

Massachusetts . 1894-98 Vermont . . 1896-97 

Michigan . . 1894-98 Connecticut . 1898 

Rhode Island . 1894-98 Indiana . . 1898 

1) The returns of several large cities (Boston, Worcester, Providence, Detroit, Hart¬ 
ford, New Haven and Indianapolis) are included in the statistics of these states. 



22 


PUBLIC HYGIENE IN THE UNITED STATES 


CITIES 


New York city 1 . 

1894-98 

Reading 

1894-98 

Chicago 

1894-98 

Hudson co., N. J. 

1894-98 

Philadelphia 

1894-98 

Cincinnati . 

1894-97 

Pittsburg 

1894-98 

St Louis 

1894-97 

Cleveland . 

1894-98 

Baltimore . 

1894-97 

New Orleans 

1894-98 

Milwaukee . 

1894-97 

Minneapolis 

1894-98 

Rochester . 

1894-97 

St Paul 

1894-98 

Denver 

1894-96 

Buffalo 

1894-98 

San Francisco 

1898 

Toledo 

1894-98 




The results of the returns received from the foregoing states 
and cities are as follows : 


Diseases 

Reported 

cases 

Registered 

deaths 

Fatality 
(per cent) 

Small-pox. 

9,222 

2.385 

25.8 

Typhoid fever .... 

69»758 

13,284 

19.0 

Diphtheria and croup 

195.783 

44,411 

22.7 

Scarlet fever .... 

127,847 

9,211 

7.2 

Measles. 

217.755 

6,424 

2.8 

Total . 

619,765 

75,715 

— 


These results agree fairly well with those of the English 
local government board for the 8 years 1890-97, which 
showed a fatality for typhoid fever of 18.05%, for diph¬ 
theria of 23%, and for scarlet fever of 4.9%. 

In the compilation of these figures it was found necessary to 
reject the returns of several entire states and cities, in conse¬ 
quence of manifest deficiency in the number of reported cases. 

The use of antitoxin for the treatment of diphtheria became 
general in the early months of 1895, throughout the country. 
If, therefore, the returns for the year 1894 be treated sepa¬ 
rately it appears that there were 25,844 reported cases, and 
7,654 deaths in that year, the fatality being 29.6%, while 
the fatality of the remaining years was only 21.6%. 


;) Including the figures of the consolidated city for 1898. 
















CONTROL OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES 


23 


Treating the year 1898 in the same manner, the fatality was 
only 20.5%, or the ratio of 31,494 cases to 6,471 deaths. 
In 2 states and 7 cities combined, having a total population 
of 4millions, the fatality from diphtheria in 1894 was 29.7, 
and in the same places in 1898 it was only 14.6, confirming 
the statement that the diphtheria fatality has been cut in twain 
since the general introduction of antitoxin treatment. It is 
also quite noteworthy that in several large cities, situated a 
thousand miles apart, the diphtheria fatality before 1895 was 
quite uniformly from 29 to 30%. 

Another measure which has become general throughout 
the country is the adoption of a regulation by local boards of 
health forbidding the practice of expectorating in all public 
places, such as public buildings, railway stations, street cars 
and sidewalks. The result is a much more cleanly condition 
of such places, and will undoubtedly have a favorable effect 
on the prevalence of tuberculosis. 

Isolation . The practice of requiring the separation from 
the community at large, of persons suffering with small-pox, 
has been recognized for many years, and those attacked with 
yellow fever have been dealt with in the same manner in later 
years, but it has not been till the past 20 years that the 
laws of the states have definitely provided for the separation 
of those who are affected with other infectious diseases. 

For the purpose of facilitating the work of isolation and of 
preventing the access of persons from outside the dwelling, 
placards or flags are commonly attached to the house in some 
conspicuous place, in order to notify the community of the 
existence of infection. 

Except in the case of small-pox, it is commonly the custom 
to permit the wage-earners of the family to continue their 
occupations, under proper restrictions as to disinfection, bath¬ 
ing and change of clothing. 

It is now commonly the practice to require the isolation, 
either in their own dwellings or in hospitals provided for the 
purpose, of persons suffering with small-pox, diphtheria and 


24 


PUBLIC HYGIENE IN THE UNITED STATES 


scarlet fever, and also the exclusion from school of scholars 
suffering with the same diseases, and of other scholars living 
in the same family with pupils so suffering. Isolation is also 
applied to cases of measles, and also in a less rigid manner 
to typhoid fever and whooping-cough. 

Isolation hospitals. The practice of providing special hos¬ 
pitals for the treatment of persons suffering with infectious 
diseases has not become so wide-spread in the United States 
as it has in Great Britain. Pest-houses and small-pox 
hospitals have, however, existed from quite an early period, 
but on account of the extremely irregular occurrence of the 
disease, and of the need of keeping them closed much of 
the time, their equipment has usually been of a primitive 
character. 

It is only within the past 5 or 10 years that cities have 
begun to recognize the need of special provision for this 
class of diseases. At the last meeting of the American public 
health association, November 1, 1899, one of the speakers 
stated that only 15 out of the 62 largest cities in the country 
had yet provided such hospitals for isolation purposes. 

Among the examples of these useful establishments are 
the Willard Parker and Reception hospitals, and the Riverside 
hospital of New York city, the new isolation hospital at 
Chicago, the South department of the City hospital at Boston, 
and the isolation hospitals at Paterson and at Worcester. 

With reference to the isolation of persons suffering with 
tuberculosis, a similar want of adequate provision by public 
authority is manifest, but a general awakening on this subject 
is now taking place. Provision has been made in several 
states as shown by the following list, mostly by private 
authorities. 1 

Alabama The Hygeia at Citronelle. 

“ Convict camp for tuberculous 

prisoners. 

1) From Dr S. A. Knopf’s Pulmonary tuberculosis and its treatment in special 
institutions , etc. Philadelphia 1899. 



CONTROL OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES 


25 


Colorado 

<< 

a 

Illinois 

a 

a 

Maryland 

Massachusetts 

a 

a 

a 

New Mexico 

a 

a 

a 

a 

New York 

a 

a 

a 

a 

a 


The Home at Denver, 4600 feet 
above sea level. 

Glockner sanitarium at Colorado 
Springs, 6000 feet above sea 
level. 

Colorado sanitarium at Boulder, 
5300 feet above sea level. 

Sanitarium at Chicago. Society 
incorporated. 

Cook county hospital for con¬ 
sumptives. 

Hospital for consumptives, Chi¬ 
cago. 

Hospital for consumptives, Balti¬ 
more. 

Sanitarium, Sharon. 

Consumptives’home, Grove Hall, 
Boston. 

Free home for consumptives, 
Dorchester, Boston. 

State hospital, Rutland, 1200 feet 
above sea level. 

Sanitarium at Chico Springs. 

Latta sanitarium, East Las Vegas. 

Ladies’ home sanitarium, East 
Las Vegas. 

St Anthony’s sanitarium, East 
Las Vegas. 

U. S. government sanitarium at 
Fort Stanton. 

Adirondack sanitarium, Saranac 
Lake, 1750 feet above sea. 

Loomis sanitarium, Liberty, New 
York, 2200 feet above sea level. 

Loomis hospital for consumptives, 
New York. 

Seton Hospital, Spuyten Duyvil. 

Sanitarium Gabriels, Paul Smith’s. 

Hill Crest, Santa Clara. 


380 beds. 

15 beds. 
100 beds. 
125 beds. 
200 beds. 

15 beds. 

16 beds. 

100 beds. 

80 beds. 

12 beds. 
160 beds. 
50 beds. 


26 


PUBLIC HYGIENE IN THE UNITED STATES 


New York 


<< 

< i 

North Carolina 
1 1 

Pennsylvania 


a 

a 

Texas 


Brooklyn home for consumptives, 
Brooklyn. 

St Joseph’s hospital, New York 
city. 

Montefiore sanitarium, Bedford. 
Pasteur sanitarium, Tuxedo. 
Asheville sanitarium, Asheville. 
Winyah sanitarium, Asheville. 
Hospital for diseases of lungs, 
Chestnut hill, Philadelphia. 
Hospital for diseases of lungs, 
411 Spruce st., Philadelphia. 
Rush hospital for consumptives. 
Sanitarium at Whitehaven. 
Sanitarium at White Gables. 


92 beds. 

350 beds. 
15 beds. 
30 beds. 
75 beds. 


40 beds. 


40 beds. 


The legislature of New York has also appointed a commis¬ 
sion to consider and report on the same subject, and a 
similar movement is on foot in Michigan. 

Sir Richard Douglas Powell says of this excellent class of 
establishments: 

Their usefulness, however, in my judgment extends far beyond 
the immediate purpose for which they are proposed. Lessons in 
self-management are learned by those who sojourn for a time in 
such sanatoria; habits of self-discipline and attention to hygienic 
laws are acquired which are of much importance to those afflicted 
with consumption, and which have a favorable influence on 
prophylaxis; and these persons when they pass again into the 
general community become centres of instruction in domestic 
hygiene. 

Disinfection . The methods employed for disinfection, after 
the occurrence of infectious diseases, in the United States, 
have been very much the same as those in use in the different 
countries of Europe, specially since the very important in¬ 
vestigations of Prof Koch, upon the value of the different 
substances used for disinfection, were made public. Appara¬ 
tus for steam disinfection has been introduced in the largest 
cities for the disinfection of movable material, and similar 


CONTROL OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES 


27 


apparatus is in use in connection with many public institu¬ 
tions, isolation hospitals, and also at the different quarantine 
stations in sea-port cities. 

Within the past three years or more the use of formalde¬ 
hyde, by means of various forms of apparatus, has very largely 
superseded the use of sulphurous acid for the disinfection of 
closed apartments. 

Vaccination. Laws relating to vaccination were first 
enacted during the first decade of the century, and have been 
followed by various amendments and limitations from that 
time till the present. One of the most efficient laws relating 
to this subject, is that which exists in many of the states, 
requiring that unvaccinated children shall not be admitted to 
the public schools. 1 

While there are compulsory laws in some states, it can not 
be said with truth that such laws are thoroughly enforced, to 
the extent of securing the vaccination of the entire population 
over 2 years of age, as is done, for example, throughout the 
German empire. 

The vaccinated portion of the inhabitants of the United 
States may be estimated at not far from 90% of the whole, and 
the re-vaccinated portion at probably 50%. But this unvac¬ 
cinated contingent of 10% (usually composed of children 
under 5) and the larger percentage of adults who have only 
submitted to primary vaccination, always affords an opportu¬ 
nity for a rapid spread of an epidemic. 

The production of vaccine lymph, as well as that of anti¬ 
toxins, in the United States, is, unfortunately, largely in the 
hands of private parties, but the tendency in the past 10 years 
has been very decidedly in the direction of improvement, and 
antiseptic methods have been introduced, together with new 
appliances intended to secure the production of a pure and 
reliable lymph. 

Glycerinated lymph is largely taking the place of the older 
forms, and humanized lymph is now but little used. 


i) See Wood's reference handbook, v. 7. p. 554 * 




28 


PUBLIC HYGIENE IN THE UNITED STATES 


Quarantine 

The measures existing in the United States for preventing 
the introduction of infectious diseases from other countries into 
the United States, through its principal sea-ports, are pro¬ 
vided chiefly by laws enacted by those states which are on the 
sea-coast, and by certain statutes of the general government 
which confer authority for inspection on the marine hospital 
service, a department of the United States treasury (act of 
February 15, 1893). 

By this act the chief official of this department is required 
to examine the quarantine regulations of state and municipal 
boards of health, and to cooperate with these authorities in 
preventing the introduction of disease from abroad, as well as 
from one state to another (act of March 27, 1890). United 
States officers in foreign ports are also required to publish 
regulations for securing the best sanitary condition of vessels, 
cargoes, passengers and crews departing for the United States. 

The topics which are treated in the United States quarantine 
regulations are : 

The inspection of vessels with the passengers and crews. 

Diseases quarantinable. These are cholera, yellow fever, 
small-pox, typhus fever and leprosy 1 . 

Requirements at quarantine. Nature of infected vessels; 
disinfection of vessels and cargoes, and of personal effects of 
crew and passengers; detention of passengers, and measures 
to be taken on the Mexican and Canadian frontiers. 

It is worthy of note, with reference to Asiatic cholera, that 
notwithstanding its frequent prevalence in transatlantic coun¬ 
tries, it has never gained a foothold in the United States since 
1873, while, previous to that date, outbreaks had usually 
followed every great European epidemic. 

The first instance on record of the enforcement of marine 
quarantine in the United States, was the detention of a vessel 
which arrived at Philadelphia, from England, in April 1728. 


:) To these may now be added bubonic plague. 



QUARANTINE 


2 9 


This ship, the Dorothy, was ordered not to come “ nearer 
than one mile to any of the towns or ports of this province ; 
that the master or owners do not presume to land any goods, 
passengers, or sailors at Philadelphia without license, under 
penalty,” provided in an act of 1700. The sheriff was re¬ 
quired to provide a convenient place, at a distance, for the 
reception of persons still sick on board, that proper care be 
taken for their recovery. 1 

The maintenance of an efficient quarantine is relatively 
more important in the United States, as compared with other 
countries, in proportion to the preponderance of the factor of 
immigration. 

The necessity, also, of maintaining such quarantine more 
stringently at the present day than was required in earlier 
years, is due to a decided change in the quality of the immi¬ 
gration. 

The total number of immigrants into the United States from 
1820 to 1895, inclusive, was 18,480,951, and this number con¬ 
stituted nearly one third of the total increase of the population 
during the same period. 

Gen. F. A. Walker in commenting on this subject, in 1896, 
said: 

Fifty, even 30 years ago, there was a rightful presumption 
regarding the average immigrant, that he was among the most 
enterprising, thrifty, alert, adventurous, and courageous of the 
community from which he came. It required no small energy, 
prudence, forethought, and pains to conduct the inquiries relating 
to his migration, to accumulate the necessary means and to find 
his way across the Atlantic. 

To-day the presumption is completely reversed. ... So much 
have the rates of railroad fares and ocean passage been reduced, 
that it is now among the least thrifty and prosperous members of 
any European community that the emigration agent finds his best 
recruiting grounds. 2 

In the 10 years 1841-50, fully 65% of the European 
immigrants coming to the United States were natives of Great 

1) Proceedings of third national quarantine and sanitary convention held at New York 
city, April 1859. p. 280. 

2) Atlantic Monthly , June 1896. 



30 


PUBLIC HYGIENE IN THE UNITED STATES 


Britain, but in the io years 1880-90 this class constituted 
only 31% of the whole, and those from Hungary, Russia, 
Poland, Armenia and Italy had greatly increased. Of the 
former class, arriving in 1891, Djot more than 8% were illiter¬ 
ate, while 51 % of the immigrants from the southern countries 
of Europe, chiefly from Italy, Poland and Hungary, were 
illiterate. (This refers to the illiteracy of the immigrants, and 
not to that of the countries in general from which they came.) 
It is among this class, herding together in the large cities, 
and utterly ignorant of the methods of avoiding infection, that 
communicable diseases are found to spread with the greatest 
rapidity; and it is this class chiefly, which has brought such 
diseases as small-pox, cholera, typhus and bubonic plague 1 to 
the threshold of the United States. Fortunately, however, in 
most instances efficient quarantines have prevented their 
introduction beyond the ports of entry at which they arrived. 

In most of the states on the Atlantic seaboard, the state 
laws give authority to the sea-port cities and towns in those 
states to carry out the provisions of the quarantine acts. In 
other states, specially those bordering on the gulf of Mexico, 
this authority is given to the state boards of health. 

The quarantine and inspection stations which are con¬ 
ducted, either by national, state or local authorities are 120 in 
number, of which 81 are on the Atlantic coast, 22 (including 
Key West) are on the gulf of Mexico, and 17 are on the 
Pacific coast. 

Several of these ports are of very little importance, in some 
instances no arrivals of vessels from foreign ports being 
reported during an entire year. 

By far the most important station as a quarantine port is 
that of New York, since the arrivals of vessels at that station 
from foreign ports may be counted annually by thousands, 
and the number of immigrants by hundreds of thousands. 

The equipment of this station consists of a boarding station, 
with the necessary offices for the health officer of the port 

1) A ship infected with this disease arrived at the port of New York, in November last. 



QUARANTINE 


31 


and his assistants, a sufficient anchorage ground for incoming 
vessels, two large and powerful steam-tugs for boarding 
facilities, apparatus and steamer for disinfection of vessels, 
and for bathing immigrants and disinfecting their personal 
effects, a detention and disinfection station on Hoffman 
island, an artificial island of 8 acres, having hospital buildings 
for the accommodation of 200 patients, a morgue and cre¬ 
matory, and all necessary appliances for hospital treatment of 
quarantinable diseases. 

The following statement of the board of health of Florida, in 
regard to the management of maritime quarantine, appears to 
present a reasonable view of the matter so far as concerns the 
seaboard cities: 


The maritime sanitation stations operated by the state of Florida through the state 
board of health have each been carefully managed throughout the year in the minutest 
detail to prevent the introduction of epidemic contagious diseases into the state, and at the 
same time foster and encourage the increasing commerce and travel coming to the state from 
foreign ports. This has been no easy task, for it is recognized, and the fact has been 
emphasized repeatedly by the board and its executive officer, that the only certain protection 
against disease introduction is non-intercourse with infected places. The demands of trade, 
however, consequent upon the development of the state, have made it impossible to maintain 
this policy. Should an exclusive system be attempted, there will most certainly follow 
clandestine intercourse, and any intercourse not surrounded by rational and judicious 
restrictions would inevitably prove to be a source of greater danger to the lives and health 
of the people of Florida. By careful inspection of each vessel, and its personnel, which 
arrives from foreign ports, the fumigation of certain vessels, together with the disinfection of 
anything which may possibly act as carriers or producers of disease, and the exclusion of 
persons from endemic or epidemic centers, non-immune to contagious disease, the board has 
thought to minimize the danger of disease introduction by way of the sea, and to provide a 
rational and ample protective system to the people of the state. The Florida system of 
quarantine, or contagious epidemic disease prevention, has obtained success in preventing 
epidemics by promptly surrounding those cases of contagious disease which have occurred, 
by inspiring confidence on the part of the citizens of the state in the sufficiency of the 
methods followed, by discouraging all exhibitions of fear — making panics impossible — and 
by securing freedom of movement and uninterrupted commercial relations within the state 
lines. 

For 8 years under the operation of this system Florida has been free from epidemics 
of any kind, although maintaining bi-weekly communication with Havana throughout the 
year, and with other infected ports as well, and was enabled during the past fall when yellow 
fever was prevalent in neighboring states, with attendant confusion, panic and interrupted 
and almost entire destruction of trade, to practically exclude the disease from the state, and 
to maintain uninterruptedly all kinds of travel within the state lines. This freedom from 
excitement and from commercial and personal discomfiture has, it is believed, been 
appreciated by the people of Florida, being manifest in the confidence exhibited in the con¬ 
stituted health authorities of the state to successfully deal with the question specially 
delegated to them by the constitution of the state, by the various legislative enactments. . 

The quarantine fund, however large by accumulation, can not be used for domestic 
sanitary needs, i.e. internal health measures, but must be held and expended only for 
purely maritime purposes, in preventing contagious epidemic disease introduction by vessels, 
or through marine agencies. 

Ninth annual report of the state board of health of Florida, p. 27. 


32 


PUBLIC HYGIENE IN THE UNITED STATES 


Food and Drug Inspection 

In a great producing country, from whose granaries and 
cattle regions large stores of food are annually sent abroad to 
other lands, the inducements to adulterate and to cheapen 
food products do not appear to be so urgent as in those more 
densely settled countries, where food must necessarily be 
imported in order to sustain the population. 

It was not, therefore, till a comparatively recent period that 
public attention was directed to this subject. Occasional 
papers, giving the results of local inspections in different parts 
of the country, were published in the reports of state boards of 
health between 1870 and 1880, and in 1879 some very lively 
discussions were provoked on this subject, in which very 
exaggerated and unfounded statements were made. The old 
stories in relation to the presence of sand in sugar, of chalk 
and calves’ brains in milk, and burnt liver in coffee were 
reproduced, and this vigorous discussion finally resulted in the 
offer of a prize of $1000 by the National board of trade for 
the best essays on this subject, embodying a draft of a pro¬ 
posed law for the prevention of food adulteration. The prize 
was offered by an advertisement which first appeared in the 
columns of the Sanitary Engineer of February 1, 1880, and 3 
prizes were awarded. The first prize was granted to Prof 
G. W. Wigner, secretary of the British society of public 
analysts. The bill which he proposed in this essay became 
the basis of most of the general food acts which were enacted 
in many of the states since that time. 

The first state which took definite action on the subject was 
New York, the law having been passed June 15, 1881. That 
of Massachusetts followed in 1882, and several other states 
have enacted similar laws in the succeeding years. In New 
York and in Massachusetts the execution of this law was 
entrusted to the state boards of health, while in other states, 
notably in Ohio and New Jersey, it has been placed in the 
hands of a special food commission, clothed with similar 


FOOD AND DRUG INSPECTION 


33 


powers and authority. Several states also have dairy com¬ 
missioners appointed to take charge of the inspection of milk 
and other dairy products. 

In some of the states where an adequate appropriation has 
been made for the execution of the law, it has been enforced, 
and the results have been all that could be expected. Thou¬ 
sands of samples have been collected and examined, and many 
offenders have been brought to trial and convicted, while 
fraudulent and dishonest preparations have been driven across 
the border into states which have made no provision against 
the evil. 

In 1881, Prof Wigner, the author of the food statute, in a 
paper on this subject used the following language: 

Adulteration does exist, it is a serious evil, and must be 
grappled with and effectively cured or suppressed, but exaggerated 
statements do not represent the real state of the food supply in any 
civilized country. The adulteration of the 19th century is cheating 
the consumer’s pocket, but is not poisoning him. By all means, 
use every effort to prevent the fraud which does exist, but do this 
by fair and open statement of the real state of things, and the 
application of an effective remedy, instead of by manufacturing 
statements of poisonous admixtures that are unknown, in order to 
find employment for alarmist chemists and microscopists. 1 

Several attempts to secure national legislation on the same 
subject have been made, notably that of 1892, and the Brosius 
bill of the present year. The first of these bills, that of 1892, 
was ably supported by Hon A. S. Paddock of Nebraska. He 
presented a letter from H. W. Wiley, chemist of the depart¬ 
ment of agriculture, showing that the expense of a general 
system of food inspection for the country at large would not 
exceed $100,000 a year. The movement was ably supported 
by petitions from all parts of the country, but failed to pass. 
It is to be hoped that better success will attend the present 
attempts to secure similar legislation. 

The following closing words of senator Paddock’s argument 


1) Sanitary engineer, May 15, 1881. p. 276. 




34 


PUBLIC HYGIENE IN THE UNITED STATES 


are well worth repeating here. Speaking of the necessities of 
the wage-earning masses, he said: 

These, Mr President, are the men and these the women and chil¬ 
dren for whom, before all others, I make this appeal. If you could 
save to these the possible one third of the nutritious element of their 
food supplies which is extracted, to be replaced by that which is only 
bulk, only the form and semblance of that of which they are robbed 
by the dishonest manipulator and trader, you would go a long way 
toward solving the problem of the laboring masses whether for them 
it is 4 better to live, or not to live,’ whether it is ‘ better to endure the 
ills they have, rather than to flee to those they know not of,’that lies 
beyond in the realm of governmental and social upheaval and chaos. 

In addition to the inspection provided by the states, the 
large cities also usually provide for inspection of milk and 
other articles of food offered for sale in their own limits. 

In several of the states dairy commissioners have also been 
appointed to have charge of the execution of the laws relating 
to milk and milk products. Every large city in the United 
States also has a milk inspector, who is usually clothed with 
the necessary power to enter complaints at court against 
offenders. In addition to these, there are also in some of the 
cities special inspectors of animals, provisions and markets, 
acting either under the direction of the health department or 
of some other bureau. 

The milk supply of New York city is obtained from 5 
states, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut 
and Massachusetts. The daily average in 1896, being 728,612 
quarts (661,580 litres) exclusive of cream and condensed 
milk. Over 80% of this milk is produced in New York 
state, nearly the entire supply being brought to the city over 
9 or 10 different railway lines. 

The milk supply of Boston is produced in the states of 
Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont, the 
daily average supply amounting to about 240,600 quarts 
(218,465 litres) estimated to 1900. 

The milk supply of all the large cities of the Union is sub¬ 
ject to daily inspection by competent officials, for the purpose 
of preventing adulteration, and measures are being adopted 


PUBLIC WATER-SUPPLIES 


35 


in some of the large cities to secure an improved condition of 
the producing dairies, both as to the health of the animals, 
and the conditions under which they are kept. 

Meat inspection. An act of the 51st congress of the 
United States, dated August 30, 1890, ch. 839, provides for 
an inspection of meats for exportation, and prohibits the im¬ 
portation of certain adulterated articles of food. Its principal 
provisions are the following : 

The inspection of salted pork and bacon intended for export, 
to determine whether it is wholesome, sound, and fit for 
human food. 

Inspection to be made where the meat is packed. 

Adulterated food and drugs and liquors injurious to health 
prohibited, and suspension of imports may be proclaimed by 
president. 

Unjust discrimination of foreign states provided against. 

Importation of diseased cattle prohibited; quarantine and 
slaughter of infected animals provided for. 

Live animals for export to be inspected, and the diseased 
not allowed to go out of the country. 

A later act of the same congress passed March 3, 1891, also 
provides for the inspection of cattle intended for export, and 
of those whose meat is to be exported; it also provides for 
inspection before slaughter, of animals intended for interstate 
commerce. Post mortems are also provided for. 

Penalties are also imposed for forging or counterfeiting 
marks and tags. 

The transport of unsound carcasses is forbidden. 

The provisions of this law are not to apply to animals killed 
on the farm. 

The appointment of inspectors is provided for. 

Public Water-supplies 

In no department of public hygiene has more rapid progress 
been made, in the United States, than in the introduction of 
public water-supplies in cities and towns. 


3 6 


PUBLIC HYGIENE IN THE UNITED STATES 


In the last century (the 18th) very few municipalities had 
taken any action toward, introducing supplies of pure water 
for the use of the inhabitants, private wells, springs and cis¬ 
terns for collecting the rainfall being the principal sources of 
supply. The whole number of towns supplied before 1800 
was 16, of which number, 1 was in New Hampshire, 5 in 
Massachusetts, 1 in Rhode Island, 2 in Connecticut, 3 in New 
York, 1 in New Jersey, 1 in Pennsylvania and 2 in Virginia. 

None had been introduced in states south of Virginia or 
west of Pennsylvania. All of these 16 supplies furnished 
water to towns containing less than 150,000 inhabitants, or 
about 2.8% of the existing population at the beginning of 
the century. 

D/AGRAM SHOMNG WE 

PERCENTAGE OF POPULAT/ON TN THE UNTTED STATES 
L/mG TN TOWNS SUPPUEO W/TN 
PL/EL/C WATER. 



The dotted line (1896-1900) indicates the probable increase to the close of the century. 

In 1850, 50 years later, only 83 public water-supplies had 
been introduced, supplying cities having a population of about 
2,450,000, or 10.6% of the total by the census enumeration 
of that year. In i860 the population supplied was only 13% 
of the total, in 1870, 17%, and in 1880 it was 11,809,000, or 
23.5%. In 1890 the total number of supplies had increased 
to 2074, and the population supplied was 22,470,000, or 



















































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































PUBLIC WATER-SUPPLIES 


37 


35.9%. In 1896, according to the Manual of American water 
works (last edition 1897), the number had increased to 3196, 
and since, in many instances, a single plant furnished water 
to several municipalities, the total number of cities and towns 
thus furnished, either partially or wholly with public water- 
supplies, was 3942, the population of these places (by the 
census of 1890) being 41.6% of the population of that year. 
The rapid increase of this important work in some of the 
states is marvelous. Only 5 cities west of the Mississippi 
river were furnished with public water-supplies before i860, 
but in 1896 there were 1011 cities and towns having public 
water-supplies west of the Mississippi, and many more were 
in contemplation. In the 2 states of Nebraska and Kansas 
alone there were only two existing public water-supplies 
previous to 1880, while 180 have been introduced in the same 
states since 1880, most of them being in towns of less than 
3000 inhabitants. 

During the last quarter of a century, several very extensive 
schemes for supplying water to large populations have been 
inaugurated. Among them may be named the extension of the 
water system of New York city, by the enlargement of its trib¬ 
utary water-shed, and the construction of the Croton dam, with 
the Croton lake and the Jerome park reservoirs. The enlarge¬ 
ment and improvement of the Chicago water-works, by the ex¬ 
tension of the water intake to a distance of 4 miles into Lake 
Michigan, this scheme having become necessary in conse¬ 
quence of the increasing pollution of the water-supply by the 
drainage of the city. A new supply was also planned for 
the metropolitan district about Boston, and is in process of 
construction. This scheme will afford an ample supply for a 
population of about 2 millions when completed, and is capable 
of further expansion. 

Greater attention has also been given during the past 20 
years to the subject of water purification, and measures have 
been undertaken, and in some instances completed in several 
cities, for the purification of their water-supplies by means of 


38 


PUBLIC HYGIENE IN THE UNITED STATES 


filtration. Among these special mention may be made of the 
city of Lawrence, Mass., which had for about 20 years drawn 
its supply directly from a river which was polluted by the 
sewage of several hundred thousand inhabitants living above 
the intake of the water-works. Typhoid fever had increased 
in the city to alarming proportions. But after the introduc¬ 
tion of the filtration system, the death-rate from this disease 
was reduced to less than one tenth of its former size, and has 
continued to diminish from the year after such introduction 
of the new filtering plant. Similar measures are being taken 
in other American cities. 

The following table presents the statistics showing the 
growth of public water-supplies in the United States during 
the past century: 


GROWTH OF THE WATER-WORKS IN THE UNITED STATES 
Compiled from the Manual of American water works 
(Edition of 1897) 


Years 

No. of supplies 
introduced 

Years 

No. of supplies 
introduced 

Before 1800 

16 

1890 

207 

1800-1809 

II 

1891 

l6l 

1810-1819 

7 

1892 

182 

1820-1829 

11 

1893 

201 

1830-1839 

20 

1894 

259 

1840-1849 

26 

1895 

302 

1850-1859 

5 i 

1896 and part of 1897 

293 

1860-1869 

99 



1870-1879 

358 



1880-1889 

1268 




The following table presents by groups the percentage of 
the population supplied with public water in each of the states 
in the Union in i860 and in 1896: 








PUBLIC WATER-SUPPLIES 


39 


PER CENT OF POPULATION SUPPLIED WITH PUBLIC WATER IN 

i860 AND 1896-1897 


i860 


District of Columbia 


81.4 

80 to 90 # 

Arizona 









Arkansas 





0 



40 to 80 # 

Colorado 









Florida 





New York 


34*7 ? 

30 to 40 56 

Idaho 





Maryland 


3i-3 J 

Iowa 









Kansas 





Rhode Island . 


29.0' 


Minnesota 





Pennsylvania . \ 


27.0 


Mississippi 





New Jersey 


26.8 


Montana 





Massachusetts . 


24-3 

> 20 to 30 # 

Nebraska . 





Louisiana 


23.8 


Nevada 



1 


Connecticut . . 


22.7 


New Mexico . 



1 

r° 5» 

California 


20.1 


North Carolina 









North Dakota . 





Delaware 


18.9 

IO to 20 # 

Oklahoma 





Missouri 


13.6 

Oregon 









South Carolina 





Ohio 


9.6^ 


South Dakota . 





New Hampshire 


6.7 


Texas 





Illinois 


6.4 


Utah 





Kentucky 


6.2 


Washington 





Michigan 


6.1 


Wisconsin 





West Virginia . 


4*7 


Wyoming . 





Virginia 


4.4 

}>o to IO# 





Georgia 


3-3 






Tennessee 


i-7 






Vermont 


1.4 






Maine 


1.2 






Indiana 


0.7 






Alabama 


0.4, 







1896-97 


Massachusetts . 

Rhode Island . 
District of Columbia 
New Jersey 

Connecticut 
New York 

New Hampshire 
Pennsylvania . 

California 

Colorado 

Wyoming 

Nevada 

Maine 

Washington 

Illinois 

Maryland 

Delaware 

Ohio 

Michigan 

Minnesota 

Montana 

Oregon 


9°*3 

90 to 100 # 


Utah 


• 39-81 




Vermont 


• 39-3 i 

89.7 



Wisconsin 


• 36.7 l 

88.2 

80 to 90 % 


Nebraska 


• 35-9 1 

82.0 



Missouri 


. 32.6 | 




Indiana 


• 30-5 J 

73-5 

72.3 

70 to 80 # 


Arizona 


. 26.6 J 




Oklahoma 


. 26.6 j 

66.1; 



Louisiana 


• 26.3 

66.0 1 

00 to 70 # 


Kansas 


• 24.3 ! 




Iowa 


. 24.1 

57*7' 



Florida 


. 22.3 

57.0 



Idaho 


. 22.2 

55-5 



Kentucky 


• 21.5. 

52.6 

5 2 *i 

► 50 to 60 # 


Texas 


. 19.8 j 

50.6 



Virginia 


. 18.9 

50.3 



New Mexico . 


. 17.4 

50.1. 



South Dakota . 


. 16.4 




Georgia . 


• 15-6 

46.4' 


* 

Tennessee 


. is- 2 I 

42.9 



West Virginia . 


• 13-5 I 

41.8 



North Dakota • 


• 12-5 

41.0 

4^ 

0 

ft 

O 

Cn 

0 


Alabama 


. ix-S 

40.2 



South Carolina 


. 10.6 j 

4 °- 2 . 









Arkansas 


• 7-71 




North Carolina 


• 7-6 > 




Mississippi 


- 6.3J 


> 3° to 40 # 


IO to 20 ‘ 


»oto 1056 




























40 


PUBLIC HYGIENE IN THE UNITED STATES 


The charts between pages 36 and 37 also illustrate the 
same groups in a graphic manner. 

See also the statistical table in appendix I, columns 7 
and 8. 


Sewerage and Sewage Disposal 

Closely related to the subject of water-supply is that of 
sewerage and sewage disposal, since the sewage consists of 
the water of the public water-supply, with the addition of such 
household filth and manufacturing wastes as may be added to 
it by the population. Both are sanitary necessities of great 
importance, but the public water-supply is usually introduced 
long before serious thought is given to the question of sewer¬ 
age. It is for this reason that the percentage of the population 
living in sewered towns is very much less than that of the 
towns furnished with public water-supplies. 

The percentage of people living in sewered towns in the 
United States in 1896 was 28.7 \ while the percentage of the 
total population living in towns having public water-supplies 
was 41.6. 2 The number of cities and towns which had intro¬ 
duced systems of sewerage 3 in 1896 was 822, or less than one 
fourth of the total number of cities and towns furnished with 
public water-supplies. 

The methods of disposal are various, and are necessarily 


1) This figure is probably incorrect for the following reasons: the essential information 
for an authoritative statement on this subject was compiled from the manual of American 
water-works, this being the only work in which such information could be found with a fair 
degree of completeness. The information in that work was obtained by means of circulars 
issued to the authorities having the water-works throughout the country in charge, and may 
be relied on as accurate so far as water-supplies are concerned, but that which applies to 
sewers was obtained from the same water officials. In very many municipalities the water- 
supplies and sewerage systems are under the control of separate authorities. Hence, informa¬ 
tion obtained from one department relating to another department can not be considered as 
accurate as that which it provides relating to its own affairs. 

In two states it was found possible to correct the percentage given in the table, by means 
of lists existing in those states. For example, in Massachusetts, the addition of towns and 
cities having sewers, not mentioned in the manual, increases the percentage from 63.3 to 73.5, 
and in New Jersey from 63.6 also to 73.5. It therefore seems probable that from 5 to 10%, 
or more, may reasonably be added to the figures given for each of the states in the 
table on page 43. We have preferred to present in the table only such figures as could 
be compiled from published statements, without attempting to give approximate estimates. 

2) See chart facing page 43, and table on the same page for further details. 

3) The term “system of sewerage” is here intended to apply to those systems which 
collect household sewage, but not to those which are constructed to receive storm water 
only. 



SEWERAGE AND SEWAGE DISPOSAL 


41 


dependent upon the conditions and circumstances which pre¬ 
vail in each case. 

In the case of cities situated on the sea-coast, or in large 
bays, harbors or tidal estuaries, the sewage is usually dis¬ 
charged into sea-water without treatment. This is the method 
pursued at Portland, Salem, Lynn, Gloucester, Boston, Prov¬ 
idence, New York, Baltimore, Charleston, Savannah and San 
Francisco. The greater portion of the sewage of Boston is 
retained and only allowed to discharge on each outgoing 
tide, while that of the remainder of the city and of 14 neigh¬ 
boring cities and towns is discharged into deeper water 
continuously. 

Most large cities situated upon the great lakes and rivers 
discharge their sewage directly into those bodies of water, as at 
Philadelphia, Cincinnati, St Louis, Albany, Minneapolis, St Paul, 
Washington, Buffalo, Detroit, Richmond, Chicago, Milwaukee 
and Cleveland. In some instances, these bodies of water are 
the sources of water-supply of cities, and are liable in conse¬ 
quence of their proximity, either at lower points on the same 
stream or at some point near the outlet of sewers on lakes or 
ponds, to be seriously polluted. It was this condition which 
has caused serious epidemics of typhoid fever at Chicago, Phil¬ 
adelphia, Lowell, Lawrence, Newburyport and other cities, in 
some of which radical changes in the methods and sources 
of supplying water have been introduced as a consequence. 

Disposal upon land has been conducted with entirely satis¬ 
factory results in several cities and towns, but the number of 
such places is not large. 

Chemical precipitation is also conducted in a few places, the 
most notable instance being the city of Worcester, having a 
population of about 100,000. The sewage of this city had, 
till 1890, been discharged without treatment into a tributary 
of the Blackstone river, to the annoyance of towns situated 
below the city. By an act of 1886, the city was required to 
remove its sewage from the river within four years, and the 
precipitation method was therefore adopted. 


42 


PUBLIC HYGIENE IN THE UNITED STATES 


One of the most extensive schemes for sewage disposal, in 
the United States, is that which is now being completed at 
Chicago, having for its object the entire removal of the city 
sewage from lake Michigan, and its transfer to the Illinois 
river and thence to the Mississippi, so that the sewage which 
formerly passed into the lake and thence went to the gulf of 
St Lawrence, now finally reaches tide-water at the gulf of 
Mexico. 

This great drainage canal serves 2 important purposes. It 
provides an outlet for the sewage of the city, and at the same 
time furnishes a water-way from Lake Michigan to the Missis¬ 
sippi river. This extensive undertaking was an absolute 
necessity. The city received its water-supply from the lake, 
and at the same time emptied nine tenths of its drainage into 
the same lake. Temporary measures for relieving this condi¬ 
tion were adopted, by extending the intake of the water-works 
to a distance of 4 miles from the shore, with the effect of 
reducing the death-rate from typhoid fever appreciably. But 
even this distance was insufficient, and the death-rate from 
this cause has again risen. 

Work upon the great canal (28 miles in length) was begun 
in 1892, pursuant to an act of the Illinois legislature of 1889, 
and the work is now rapidly approaching completion. When 
finished, the entire sewage of Chicago, diluted with the water 
of Lake Michigan, will be discharged through this canal. 

One of the most useful statutes yet enacted, with reference 
to the subject of water-supply and sewerage, was that which 
was passed by the Massachusetts legislature in 1886, entitled 
an “ Act to protect the purity of inland waters.” The annual 
appropriation specially provided for carrying out the provi¬ 
sions of this act, in recent years, has been $30,000. Since the 
operations of the state board of health under this act have 
been a matter of frequent comment in medical, sanitary and 
engineering journals, the writer takes the liberty of quoting 
the statute in full in appendix III. 

Under this act it will be seen that the duties of the board 


























































































































\ 




























































































































































































































































































































SEWERAGE AND SEWAGE DISPOSAL 


43 


are chiefly to examine, to advise and to report, and in cases 
of omission to comply with the laws in regard to pollution of 
water-supplies and inland waters, the board is authorized to 
inform the attorney-general. 

Under its provisions the board has been enabled to main¬ 
tain a careful supervision over the systems of water-supply 
throughout the state, has given its official advice to municipal 
authorities, corporations and individuals in 660 1 instances, has 
established and maintained an experiment station, for the pur¬ 
pose of carrying out experiments in sewage purification and 
water filtration, and has examined many samples of water, 
sewage, sand, gravel and other soils, chemically, bacterially 
and mechanically, during the period in which the act has been 
in operation. The advantages derived from the operation of 
this act are generally acknowledged, both among the citizens 
of the state and elsewhere. 


PER CENT OF THE POPULATION LIVING IN SEWERED TOWNS 

(1896-97) 


States 

States 

New Jersey. 



63.7' 

l f/% HA 0/ 

Wyoming . 



19.3 1 


Massachusetts 



63.3. 

> OO IO 7O /q 

Indiana 



17.9 







Vermont 



17.1 


New York . 



58.8' 


Florida 



13-4 


Rhode Island 



56.0 

- 50 to 60 % 

Kentucky . 



12.5 

■ 10 to 20% 

Connecticut 



52-7. 


Iowa 



11.8 







Kansas 



11.4 


Colorado 



43-2' 

1 

Virginia 



10.9 


Maryland . 



42.6 

koto 50% 

Georgia 



10.2 


Pennsylvania 



40.9. 

1 










Texas 



8.4 1 


New Hampshire 



39-i' 


Tennessee . 



8.1 


California . 



39-1 


Alabama 



7-5 


Delaware . 



38-3 


Oklahoma . 



7-4 


Illinois 



38.0 

-30to 40% 

West Virginia 



6.2 


Ohio 



32.6 

Idaho 



6.1 


Washington 



32.1 


South Carolina 



5-5 


Michigan . 



30-1 


Arizona 



5-3 

- 0 to IO % 

Utah 



30*i. 


North Dakota 



4-5 







New Mexico 



3-6 


Minnesota . 



28.0' 


South Dakota 



3-i 


Nevada 



27.6 


Arkansas 



2.2 


Maine 



26.3 


North Carolina 



1.6 


Oregon 



26.0 

oa ha 0/ 

Mississippi . 



1.0 


Wisconsin . 



25.8 

20 lO JO / 0 

Louisiana . 



1.0 


Missouri 



24.9 






Montana 



23.1 






Nebraska . 



22.6^ 







1) To the close of 1899. 




















44 


PUBLIC HYGIENE IN THE UNITED STATES 


School Hygiene, Subjective and Objective 

That which relates to the health and comfort of the pupil 
personally, and that which pertains to his surroundings. The 
number of children enrolled in schools in the United States in 
1890, was 14,219,571 (U. S. census) and at the present date, 
January 1900, is probably about seventeen or eighteen mil¬ 
lions. The majority of these is subjected to the influences 
attendant upon school life throughout several years of the 
adolescent, or rapidly growing period of life, an age when 
one’s surroundings have a greater influence on his health, 
and consequently on his future condition, and to some extent 
on his length of life, than they do at later ages. 

The first schoolhouses in the country were small, one-story, 
one-room buildings, with such ventilation as open fire-places 
furnished. Little or no regard was had for the important 
question of lighting, cubic air space, adaptation of seats to the 
ages of pupils, typography of school-books, or to the usual 
sanitary conveniences now considered as essential features of 
every well appointed schoolhouse. When open fire-places 
gave place to cast iron stoves heated with firewood, the con¬ 
ditions were even worse, for the only avenue for efficient 
ventilation, the fire-place, was then closed. 

The transition from these structures (which are still in use 
in many rural districts) to the large modern structures having 
many schoolrooms, accommodating several hundred scholars 
in each, and provided with modern sanitary appliances, has 
been gradual, and has been brought about by the demands of 
the people, and by the frequent investigations of state and 
local boards of health, as well as by voluntary organizations 
of citizens interested in the public welfare. 

Laws have also been enacted in several states, placing the 
sanitary supervision of schoolhouses under the control of 
definite authorities empowered to act, and to make or to cause 
to be made, such changes as are necessary to place these 
buildings in proper sanitary condition. In some states this 


SCHOOL HYGIENE 


45 


authority has been granted to boards of health, in others to 
the school authorities, and in others still to special state or 
district police officials. 

On the other hand the pupil, considered subjectively, has 
received less attention than has been given to his environ¬ 
ment. Not till the past 20 years have laws been enacted 
providing for the protection of the family and the community 
at large, from the influence of aggregating children together 
in close proximity, at an age when the susceptibility to infec¬ 
tion is at its maximum. 1 

The question of deciding whether particular scholars should 
be excluded from school, or whether the school should be 
closed altogether in case of an unusual prevalence of infec¬ 
tious disease, has usually been left to the discretion of the 
local authorities, but sometimes the latter procedure has been 
adopted only when endorsed or recommended by a state or 
central authority. 

Physical training has in recent years been introduced in 
the schools of all large cities, and the tendency is to place 
this important branch in the hands of educated instructors. 
Unfortunately, military training, with its narrow methods of 
physical culture, has for a time, in many places, been allowed 
to supplant broader and more rational methods in the higher 
grades of schools. Time will undoubtedly provide the remedy 
for this error. 

Medical inspection of schools. The plan of making regular 
medical inspections of the pupils attending the public schools, 
so far as the United States is concerned, was introduced by a 
communication from the board of health of Boston to the 
mayor and city council, in 1892. An appropriation was made, 
but the plan was not put in operation till November 1894, 
when a corps of 50 physicians was appointed for as many 
districts in the city. These inspectors were instructed “ to 
visit the schools daily in the morning, and to examine all 

1) An exception may be made to this statement in the single instance of the law exist¬ 
ing in some states, providing for the exclusion of unvaccinated children from school, a 
measure which dates from a considerably earlier period. 



46 


PUBLIC HYGIENE IN THE UNITED STATES 


pupils who complain, or appear to the teachers to be ill.” If 
scholars were found showing symptoms of infectious disease, 
or were otherwise too ill to remain in school, the teacher was 
advised to send the pupil home. In the examination of 
throats, wooden tongue depressors are used, to be destroyed 
after each single examination. 

These inspectors are also authorized to visit the homes of 
children thus found to be ill, and to see that proper precau¬ 
tions are taken at home for preventing the spread of disease. 

During the 14 months, ended December 31, 1895, 16,790 
pupils were examined, 10,337 °f whom were found to be ill, 
and of these 77 had diphtheria, 28 scarlet fever, 116 measles, 
28 chicken-pox, 69 pediculosis, 47 scabies, 47 mumps, 33 
whooping-cough and 8 congenital syphilis. The remainder 
were suffering from a variety of other diseases, and many of 
them were found to be too ill to remain in school during the 
day. 

A similar plan was adopted in New York city in March 
1897, and measures have been recommended for its adoption 
in Chicago, Philadelphia, St Louis, Washington, Worcester, 
Fall River, Lowell, Brookline and Newton. 1 

Municipal Hygiene 

The necessity of public sanitation, judiciously administered 
by some well-organized municipal authority, increases in pro¬ 
portion to the increase in density of the population. Hence 
every city and nearly every large town of 10,000 inhabitants 
or more, in the United States, now has its board of health, or 
health department, organized for the purpose of providing for 
the protection of the public health of the citizens living within 
the limits of such municipality. 

For the smaller towns, villages and rural districts, which 
comprise at present the greater part of the population of the 
United States, the laws are much more variable. 


1) Report of U. S. commissioner of education , advance sheets. Washington, D. C., 
1899. p. 1489-1511. 



MUNICIPAL HYGIENE 


47 


The board of health or health commissioners of cities are 
usually appointed by the city government, while those of the 
towns are more commonly elected by the people, in the same 
manner with other important local officers. 

The principal duties of municipal boards of health are the 
following : 

The management and control of infectious diseases, includ¬ 
ing notification, isolation, disinfection, vaccination, and the 
supervision of infectious disease hospitals. 

The inspection and abatement of local nuisances. 

The sanitary inspection of the food supply, and specially 
that of milk, provisions, and animals used for food. 

Street cleaning. 

The collection and disposal of ashes, garbage and refuse. 

Tenement-house inspection. 

Medical inspection of schools. 

Supervision of foundlings, infant asylums and lying-in 
hospitals. 

Inspection of plumbing. 

Inspection of bakeries. 

Inspection of barber-shops. 

Registration of vital statistics, and supervision of burials. 

Care of public bathing establishments. 

Regulation of offensive trades. 

Regulation of stables. 

Supervision of the municipal water-supply, and the system 
of sewerage and sewage disposal. 

Some of the foregoing topics have already received separate 
consideration in this monograph, and some of them are also 
frequently referred to special commissioners, acting indepen¬ 
dently of boards of health. This is usually the case with the 
city water-supply and the systems of sewerage. 

Quite frequently, also, the cleaning of streets, and the collec¬ 
tion of refuse is done by a special independent authority, and 
sometimes two or more of these functions are vested in a 
board of public works. 


48 


PUBLIC HYGIENE IN THE UNITED STATES 


Local nuisances* The inspection and abatement of those 
unsanitary conditions which are liable to prove detrimental to 
the health, comfort and convenience of the citizens of any 
municipality, are among the chief duties of every local board 
of health. 

For this purpose arbitrary power is usually entrusted to 
municipal boards of health, for the purpose of enabling them 
to deal promptly and decisively with local nuisances. 

The following language of a judge of supreme court fitly 
expresses the duty of the local board of health in such matters: 

Their action is intended to be prompt and summary. They are 
clothed with extraordinary powers for the protection of the com¬ 
munity from noxious influences affecting life and health; and it is 
important that their proceedings should be delayed as little as 
possible. Delay might defeat all beneficial results ; and the neces¬ 
sity of the case, and the importance of the public interests at stake, 
justify prompt action. 

Offensive trades. Certain trades which are more or less 
productive of noxious and offensive odors, and hence are 
unusually annoying and injurious to persons living in the 
neighborhood, are often placed under the supervision of local 
boards of health by special laws. Slaughter-houses, render¬ 
ing works, artificial fertilizer works, glue factories, tripe-boiling 
establishments and chemical works, constitute the principal 
works of this kind. If the local board of health neglects or 
refuses to apply the proper remedy in such cases, it occasion¬ 
ally becomes necessary for some other authority to act, either 
the state board of health, or a court of law. 

It was on account of the serious nuisance caused in a 
rapidly growing district near Boston, by the business of 
slaughtering animals in private establishments, without regard 
to sanitary precautions, that a law was enacted in 1871, which 
gave authority to the state board of health to close such 
establishments, when the “ public health, or the public com¬ 
fort and convenience ” required. Complaints were made 
against 23 of these places, the result of which was the forma¬ 
tion of a corporation for the purchase of land and erection of 


MUNICIPAL HYGIENE 


49 


an abbattoir, in which the business of slaughtering was con¬ 
ducted upon improved methods, and a large district was 
relieved of the public nuisance. 

Street cleaning. The systematic cleaning of the streets and 
public places of cities is a subject of comparatively recent 
growth in the cities of the United States. The methods of 
administration, the appliances used, and the results accom¬ 
plished, have undergone very decided changes in the line of 
improvement, and even to the casual observer visiting almost 
any large city after the lapse of io years or more, a great 
improvement is manifest. 

A conspicuous example of thorough and extensive work of 
this character was that of the late Col Geo. E. Waring, who 
was appointed to administer this important department in the 
city of New York in 1895, and in a brief period wrought a 
radical improvement in the condition of the streets. 1 

Disposal of refuse. The duty of providing for the collection 
and disposal of the garbage, ashes, waste-paper and domestic 
rubbish of cities is usually, though not always, performed by 
the department of street cleaning. To find a satisfactory 
method of collecting this material, of providing for its proper 
separation by the householder, and of its final disposal, is often 
a serious and perplexing question. Clean ashes are employed 
for the filling of new made land, but when mixed with putres- 
cible garbage, as often happens, they must necessarily become 
a nuisance to the neighboring inhabitants. Garbage, when 
fed to swine and other animals, is a frequent cause of disease, 
as is abundantly shown by thorough investigation. 

Hence, in some of the states, laws have been enacted 
restricting this practice. 

In sea-port cities, it has been a common custom to tow such 
material out to sea, in barges so constructed as to admit of 
easily discharging their contents. 

In some inland cities such material has frequently been 


1) Street cleaning and the disposal of a city's wastes , by Geo. E. Waring, Jr. New 
York, 1899. 



50 


PUBLIC HYGIENE IN THE UNITED STATES 


treated by burying or by digging it in the soil, a method which 
necessitated the accumulation of offensive deposits during 
the winter. 

In many cities it has been the custom to treat the perish¬ 
able material either by destruction with fire, or by some process 
intended to utilize the products obtained, either by means of 
steam or by naphtha, the resulting products usually consisting 
of fats and fertilizers. For this purpose inventive genius has 
supplied many forms of destructors and rendering apparatus. 

Public baths. Public bathing establishments have existed 
for many years in the principal sea-coast cities, and cities on 
the banks of large rivers, where open air and summer bathing 
is practicable. But all-the-year-round bath-houses under 
municipal control, in which hot and cold baths can be had at 
any time, either free or on payment of a very small fee, are yet 
but few in number, except in the largest cities. As an excep¬ 
tion to this statement, may be mentioned the bath-house 
recently erected in the town of Brookline, Mass., which is a 
model in its way, and is furnished with all the necessary 
appliances for hot and cold bathing, swimming tanks, and 
opportunities for instructing the pupils of public schools, as 
well as others, in the art of swimming. 

Plumbing inspection. Within a comparatively recent period, 
the business of plumbing and drainage of houses has been 
entrusted to the supervision of the local board of health, by 
the enactment of laws providing both for the registration, 
licensing and examination of plumbers, and the inspection of 
their work. 

The action of these laws has wrought a very great change 
from the unsatisfactory conditions which had formerly pre¬ 
vailed. 

Bakeries. In some states provision has been made by law 
for regular inspection of bakeries by local boards of health. 

Tenement-house hygiene and inspection. The number of 
American cities in which the population has become so densely 
aggregated as to call for special measures to remedy the evils 


MUNICIPAL HYGIENE 


51 


attendant upon tenement-house life, is not large. By the 
census of 1890 there were only 11 cities in the United States 
having a population of more than 250,000 in each, but the 
rapid increase of the population in these cities, in recent years, 
has produced conditions in some of them, which approach 
those of Glasgow and London, and hence, measures for their 
relief are demanded. By an act of the legislature of New 
York of 1894, a tenement-house committee was appointed to 
investigate the tenement-houses of New York city. The 
report of this committee states that eight fifteenths, or a little 
more than one half of the population of New York city at that 
time, lived in “what are generally called tenement-houses, 
rather than apartment houses ”. 1 

The death-rate of the infant population in these dwellings is 
much greater than that of children living in single houses. 
One of the chief causes of the higher death-rate is the exist¬ 
ence of old and unsanitary buildings. In 1892, the Bureau 
of labor statistics of Massachusetts reported on the tenement- 
houses of Boston, and found that 67% of the population lived 
in rented tenements. The chief defects of these tenement- 
houses is the want of air, light and ventilation in the rooms, and 
their general uncleanly condition. The number of sleeping- 
rooms having no outside windows was 365 7. The reasons given 
for the occupation of such quarters were chiefly intemperance, 
low rent, poverty, choice, necessity and nearness to work. 

More than 120,000 of the population of Glasgow live in 
one-room tenements, and 264,000 in two-room tenements. 2 
Such conditions do not exist in any American city, even 
though the density of the population in certain limited areas 
in New York city exceeds that of the most densely populated 
parts of London. 


1) The commission defines a “ tenement-house ”, as meaning “ every house, building, 
or portion thereof, which is rented, leased, let, or hired out to be occupied, or is occupied 
as the house, home, or residence of three or more families, living independently of one 
another, and doing their cooking on the premises, or by more than two families upon a floor 
so living, and cooking, but having a common right in the halls, stairways, yards and water- 
closets, or some of them.” 

2) Life in one room , by Dr Russell, medical officer of health of Glasgow. 



52 


PUBLIC HYGIENE IN THE UNITED STATES 


For the relief of these evils, different methods have been 
adopted : i) cleaning of tenements, and attempting to reform 
the habits of the occupants; 2) erecting model tenements; 
3) municipal purchase of bad districts, destruction of build¬ 
ings and erection of new and better ones; 4) inducing the 
removal of families to the suburbs, or to become owners of 
their dwellings. 

Following the example of Miss Octavia Hill of London, who 
began her work in 1864, several philanthropic ladies (Miss 
Collins of New York, Mrs Lincoln of Boston, and Miss 
Wright of Philadelphia) have carried out similar work in these 
cities, by improving conditions already existing. In addition 
to this work, voluntary organizations have been formed, for the 
purpose of erecting model dwellings after the plan inaugurated 
by Mr Geo. Peabody in London. 

The Improved dwellings association of New York, the New 
York tenement-house building company, the Commission of 
public works and the Astral apartments association of Brooklyn, 
together with several other corporations and individuals, by 
organized effort, have accomplished much in the way of erect¬ 
ing model dwellings for the poor. 

Municipal purchase of areas, with destruction of unsanitary 
buildings and the erection of better houses, has not yet been 
undertaken by city governments in America. 

In New England, several manufacturing corporations have 
made commendable efforts to induce their employees to pur¬ 
chase their own homes. It has also been the custom, even 
from the first half of the present century, for many manufac¬ 
turing corporations to provide and to rent tenements to their 
operatives. 1 

The Cooperative savings bank and building system has also 
proved successful, specially in Philadelphia, and more recently 
throughout other parts of the Union, in furnishing the funds 
for building houses for artizans, mechanics and others. 

1) See description of the mill tenement-houses of Lawrence. Report of sanitary com¬ 
mission of Mass., 1850. p. 442-446. 



MUNICIPAL HYGIENE 


53 


One of the most recent factors which is now indirectly 
effecting an improvement in this direction, is the introduction 
of electric street railways connecting cities with their suburbs, 
and thus constituting a rapid, easy and economical method of 
reaching more sparsely settled districts, a blessing for wage- 
earners, who were formerly compelled to live in the crowded 
sections of cities. 

The following figures present some of the conditions of life 
in the cities, with reference to this subject. The table brings 
out in sharp contrast some of the conditions prevailing in New 
York city and Philadelphia, since in New York city over 82% 
of the families live in houses having more than 3 or 4 families, 
while in Philadelphia only 4.9% live under the same condi¬ 
tions, and 84.6% of the families have each a house of their 
own. 


POPULATION, FAMILIES, DWELLINGS AND AREA, IN LARGEST CITIES OF THE UNITED STATES» 

Cities having over 250,000 in each 


54 



PUBLIC HYGIENE IN THE UNITED STATES 



) From Encyclopedia of social reform . New York, 1897. 2) Now consolidated with New York city. 










































MUNICIPAL HYGIENE 


55 


The duty of the local board of health, in regard to the tene¬ 
ment-house population, is a very important one, since the 
board of health has the legal authority to act in a summary 
manner when the occasion demands it. In most, if not all 
the cities of the United States, the sanitary authorities have 
well-organized departments for the purpose of tenement-house 
inspection, with authority to cause dwellings to be put in 
proper sanitary condition, and when this is not practicable, to 
order them to be vacated, and in some instances to be 
destroyed . 1 Following the Scotch practice, the system of 
ticketing apartments 2 and limiting the number of occupants , 
and the cubic air-space to each one, has also been adopted in 
some American cities. 

Ih the city of New York the tenement-house inspector is 
required to ascertain the following facts : 3 

Street number 

Name and address of owner 

Number of families 

Number of occupants 

Overcrowding 

Halls, if lighted 

Privy accommodations — number of sittings 

Whether separately and independently connected with sewer 

Rags 

Schools 

Housekeeper on premises 

Cellars, if clean and dry 

Cellars, if fit for human habitation 

Yards, whether properly graded 

Yards, whether sewer connected 

Front and rear areas, whether graded 

Front and rear areas, whether sewer connected 

Waste-pipes, whether trapped 

Waste-pipes, whether joints are connected with cement or lead 
Waste-pipes, whether ventilated 2 feet above the roof 
Soil-pipes, whether trapped 

Soil-pipes, whether joints are connected with cement or lead 
Stairs and balusters throughout the house 
Walls and ceilings of halls and rooms throughout the house 
Floors of rooms and halls throughout the house 


1) Acts of Massachusetts. April 1, 1897. 

2) The Ticketed House of Glasgow. President’s address before the Philosophical society 
of Glasgow. J. B. Russell, M.D., LL.D. November 1888. 

3) From annual report of board of health, New York, 1876. 



56 


PUBLIC HYGIENE IN THE UNITED STATES 


Slop-sinks, whether trapped and ventilated 
Wash-basins, whether trapped and trap ventilated 
Bath-tubs, whether trapped and trap ventilated 
Water-supply pipes 
Roof 

Skylights and roof ventilation 

Leaders 

Eaves-gutters 

Chimneys 

Fire-escapes, whether encumbered 

House-drain, whether defective or earthenware 

Water-closets, whether trapped and trap-ventilated 

Privy-vaults 

School-sinks 

Privy-houses 

Cesspools 

Urinals, whether properly flushed 
Fences 

Hydrants in yard 
Air-shafts 

Ash and garbage receptacles, whether suitable, sufficient and clean 
Ash and garbage receptacles, whether kept within the stop-line 

The inspections of this class of houses made by the board 
in 1896, were 190,134, resulting in 38,858 complaints on which 
orders were issued. In addition to the foregoing, 45,601 
night inspections were made to prevent overcrowding. Three 
hundred twenty-two houses were ordered to be vacated. This 
course is taken where the owners refuse to comply with 
orders, and in the majority of cases notices are complied with 
before the order of vacation takes effect. 

At the beginning of the present century, public health in 
the sense now accorded to the term, could hardly be said to 
exist, since public sanitation is one of the necessities depen¬ 
dent very largely on the close aggregation of the population, 
and at that period there were scarcely a half dozen cities in the 
new republic which contained in each a population of more 
than 10,000 people, and not one having 100,000. 

By an act of the legislature of New York, of February 10,1797, 
entitled, an act “ to prevent the bringing in and spreading of 
infectious diseases in this state,” a board of health was created 
for the city of New York, with power to make rules and orders. 1 


;) Report of Metropolitan board of health , 1866. History of health laws. p. 366. 



INDUSTRIAL HYGIENE 


57 


By acts of the legislature of Massachusetts, boards of health 
were created for the towns of Boston and Salem in 1799, and 
similar action was soon afterward taken for the protection of 
other towns. The board of health of New Orleans was 
created by an act of the legislature in 1818. The board of 
health of Philadelphia was incorporated in 1806, that of St 
Louis was established September 2, 1843. But for the period 
embracing the early half of the century, little information 
can be gained in regard to the operations of such boards, 
other than the duty of preventing the spread of small-pox. 

Industrial Hygiene 

A very large proportion of the population of the United 
States is engaged in useful occupations, the total number of 
such employed persons amounting to many millions. By the 
census of 1880, there were engaged in all occupations, 
including agriculture, manufacturing, mining and commerce, 
17,392,099 persons, and in 1890 these had increased to 
22,735,661. Some of these occupations or industries, and 
specially those which are conducted indoors, have a decided 
effect on the health of those who are employed. The special 
industries in which operatives are subjected to harmful 
influences are mining, cotton and woolen manufacture, paper¬ 
making (specially in the department of rag-sorting and 
cutting), stone-cutting, grinding and polishing of steel imple¬ 
ments, match-making, wool and hair-sorting and hide-cleaning, 
the manufacture of poisonous colors and dyes, pottery and 
all manufactures into which lead enters as a component part 
(painting, plumbing, type-setting, glazing, etc.). To these 
may be added certain industries and occupations in which the 
employed are specially liable to serious accidents involving 
the loss of life, limb or sight. But little organized work has 
been accomplished thus far in America in this important 
direction, other than that which has been provided for by the 
enactment of certain laws requiring factory inspection by 
special officials appointed for the purpose. 


58 


PUBLIC HYGIENE IN THE UNITED STATES 


The chief danger in these occupations is that which results 
from the inhalation of dust, either of an irritating character, as 
in the case of file-cutting and needle-grinding, or of a specific, 
poisonous nature, such as is illustrated by the dust of infected 
foreign hides and hair, and that of the floors of workshops 
infected with the expectoration of tuberculous workmen. 

Efficient ventilation constitutes one of the best means of 
preventing the occurrence of the diseases to which workmen 
are subject. To this may be added the frequent cleansing of 
floors of workshops, the provision of cuspidors properly 
supplyed with disinfectants, and regulations prohibiting expec¬ 
toration upon floors, and elsewhere. 

Legislation is very much needed providing for a careful 
investigation of the conditions to which operatives are sub¬ 
jected in harmful employments, the causes of the evils, and 
the best means of applying the proper remedy. 

Arsenical products. The manufacture of different arsenical 
products has produced more or less injury among workmen, 
specially in those establishments where paris green is made 
in large quantities, for use in agricultural districts in the 
destruction of the various insect pests. 

The use of arsenic in the manufacture of wall-paper and textile 
fabrics has been greatly diminished, in consequence of the pop¬ 
ular demand for goods which are free from this dangerous 
poison. In several states, legislative inquiries relating to this 
subject have taken place, and bills for the restriction of this 
use of arsenic have been introduced, but thus far manufac¬ 
turing interests have succeeded in preventing their enactment. 

Burial of the Dead 

In the early history of the British colonies, in North 
America, burials were made in small grave-yards or ceme¬ 
teries, usually in the villages or quite near them, and in most 
of the larger and older cities these places still remain. But 
in these large cities, burials in such places have been discon¬ 
tinued, either in consequence of overcrowding, or of local 


BURIAL OF THE DEAD 


59 


ordinances forbidding their further use. In a few instances, 
burials were made beneath churches in the older cities, but 
this objectionable practice has almost entirely ceased, and at 
the present time, larger cemeteries have been established 
at considerable distances from the densely settled portions of 
large cities. These are carefully laid out and enclosed, and in 
many instances, the sculptor’s art has contributed much to 
their adornment. The annual custom of visiting and decorat¬ 
ing the graves of dead soldiers of the wars, in all parts of the 
United States, has undoubtedly contributed toward making 
cemeteries more attractive and beautiful. 

So far as concerns the question of public health, very 
decided progress has been made in the United States. Laws 
relating to the transportation of the dead have been enacted, 
requiring special care in the case of transportation of those 
who have died of infectious disease. Laws have also been 
enacted providing for the licensing of undertakers and embalm- 
ers, and ordinances to prevent the holding of public funerals 
in case of deaths from certain infectious diseases, and forbid¬ 
ding intramural burials. 

The average annual intramural interments per acre, in 
1890 1 , were as follows for the principal cities. They varied 
very greatly from a maximum of 43.4 per acre in Jersey city 
to 0.97 in Dayton, Ohio. 



Per acre 

Per hectare 

New York city ...... 

4-3 

10.6 

Chicago . 

7.8 

19-3 

Philadelphia. 

15.6 

38.5 

Brooklyn .. 

12.3 

30-4 

St Louis . 

8.8 

21.7 

Boston . 

16.3 

40.3 

Baltimore . 

13-3 

32.9 

San Francisco. 

17.9 

44.2 

Cleveland . 

22.9 

56.6 

Buffalo ...... 

4.1 

10.1 


i) From U. S. census of 1890, social statistics of cities. 














6o 


PUBLIC HYGIENE IN THE UNITED STATES 


Embalming. Within the past io years, through the zeal of 
undertakers and others having charge of funeral rights, the 
practice of embalming the dead has spread in the United States 
with greater rapidity than is demanded by the people. In not a 
few instances has it seriously interfered with the action of 
justice, in determining the cause of death in cases of violence, 
and in some states laws have been enacted providing for the 
restriction of the practice. 

In the United States, as elsewhere, the false pride and senti¬ 
ment which too often attends the burial of the dead, leads to 
the impoverishment of families, and large sums are expended 
in the burial of those who in their lifetime lacked the ne¬ 
cessities of life. 

Cremation. Within the past 20 years the custom of cre¬ 
mating the bodies of the dead has obtained a considerable foot¬ 
hold in the United States, and several crematories have been 
built in different parts of the country. 

The first crematory was built by Dr Julius T. Le Moyne at 
Washington, Pa., in 1876, and was used for the disposal of 
his own remains. From that time to the present much has 
been written in America in relation to this safe and rational 
method of disposal. No more establishments for incineration 
were erected till 1884, but from 1884 to the present time 26 
crematories have been established. In some instances, laws 
have been enacted favoring the practice and placing it under 
proper restrictions. 

That the public sentiment in favor of incineration is steadily 
increasing, is shown by the rapidly augmenting number of 
bodies submitted to this method of disposal. 

The following list furnished by Mr Louis Lange of New 
York city shows the rapid progress which has been made in 
the establishment of crematories in the United States, and in 
the number of persons whose remains have been incinerated 
in these since their introduction in 1876. 

In the 8 years 1876-1883, only 25 bodies had been dis¬ 
posed of in this manner, and all of these were treated in the 


BURIAL OF THE DEAD 


61 


crematory built by Dr Le Moyne at Washington, Pa. From 
that time the annual number increased to 1699 in 1898, with 
a total of 8885 in all, up to the close of 1898, and by the date 
of opening of the Paris exposition of 1900, the number will 
probably have reached about 10,000. 

DIAGRAM SHOW/NG THE 
NUMBER OFCREMAT/ONS PER ANNUM 
/N THE UN/TED STATES 








































































































TABLE OF CREMATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES, 1876 to 1898 


62 PUBLIC HYGIENE IN THE UNITED STATES 












































RAILWAY HYGIENE 


63 


Legal provision has been made in some states, providing 
special means for carrying out the laws in regard to death 
certificates, in regard to bodies presented for incineration, and 
providing that in case of death by violence, the body shall not 
be embalmed before it is seen by an official medical officer 
(medical examiner or coroner). 

Railway Hygiene 

The rapid development of the different railway systems in 
the United States in the last half century 1 has made it imper¬ 
ative that measures should be taken to protect the patrons of 
these roads from the dangers incident to public travel. One 
of the chief difficulties which hinders the progress of this 
important branch of public hygiene, consists in the fact that 
the long, through lines of travel extending across the conti¬ 
nent, pass across very many different states, each one of which 
is, in a measure, a law unto itself, and it is no easy matter to 
secure uniformity of legislation on this subject among the 
different states. At the present time, almost the only legisla¬ 
tion on this subject is that which exists in a few states in 
relation to the transportation of dead bodies, and specially 
regarding the bodies of those who have died of infectious 
diseases. Yet, it is a matter of certainty that a living, breath¬ 
ing human being, sick with an infectious disease, is a far 
greater danger to persons in his immediate proximity, than 
the body of one who has died of the same disease, and is 
enclosed in a coffin. This coffin is also carried in a baggage 
or freight car, apart from the passengers, and is almost invari¬ 
ably enclosed in an outer box when prepared for transporta¬ 
tion. It therefore follows, that legislation intended for the 
protection of the traveler from the sick and living is of far 

1) The mileage of the railways of the United States, in 1898, was 185,371, or 6.28 linear 
miles of railway for each 100 square miles of territory, and 25.6 miles for each 10,000 of the 
population. 

The number of passengers carried 1 mile, in 1898, was 13,379,930,004, and the total 
number of passengers carried was 501,066,681. (Report of interstate commerce commission , 
1898.) 

Further information in regard to the railway suburban travel may be found in 
appendix 4. 



6 4 


PUBLIC HYGIENE IN THE UNITED STATES 


more importance than that which is designed to protect him 
from the dead. 

An investigation made in Massachusetts with reference to 
certain infectious diseases, in 1891, showed that small-pox, 
diphtheria, scarlet fever and measles were relatively more 
prevalent in the towns situated on railway lines than they 
were in those towns not so connected. Out of 2298 deaths 
from small-pox which occurred in 20 years in the state, only 
13 occurred in towns not directly on some line of railway 
communication. The same fact was noted, though in a less 
marked degree, in regard to diphtheria, scarlet fever and 
measles. Undoubtedly, many unrecognized cases of infec¬ 
tious disease travel on railways, hence, measures are necessary 
to provide, first, for the thorough cleansing and disinfection 
of cars and their furnishings, specially of sleeping-cars, at the 
ends of their respective routes or lines of travel; second, for 
a careful supervision of the water-closets on the trains, 
and that they are not allowed to be used at, or near the 
stations in cities and towns. It is quite practicable, also, and 
desirable, to require that some disinfectant of recognized 
potency be added to the water used for flushing purposes, 
when such is provided; third, the water-supply, the food- 
supply, and the ice-supply used on long lines for dining and 
lunch-cars and at stations, should receive careful supervision. 
It is also desirable that the milk used on dining-cars and at 
stations should be procured of stated parties, and they should 
be held responsible for its quality and for the cleanliness of 
the dairies from which it is obtained; fourth, measures are 
necessary for the exclusion of persons sick with infectious 
diseases, from public conveyances (cars and steamers), and if 
this is impracticable, to provide for their isolation in separate 
cars or compartments. 

Decided improvement is already taking place along these 
lines. Railway corporations find it for their own advantage 
to provide such protection as is necessary, and are gradually 
furnishing sanitary appliances, either in advance of, or in con- 


VITAL STATISTICS 


65 


sequence of compulsory legislation. Railway hygiene has 
been a frequent topic of discussion, in recent years, at the 
meetings of the American public health association, and also 
of the railway surgeons and medical directors of the different 
railway systems. The latter formed an organization at Chi¬ 
cago, November 9, 1894, under the name of the '‘American 
academy of railway surgeons ”, and have published an annual 
volume of transactions since that date. 

Vital Statistics 

One of the chief objects of mortality returns and reports is the 
collection and preparation of materials ultimately to be handed 
over to those who are presumed to be competent, by virtue of their 
professional education, to deal with questions of public hygiene 
and sanitation. The statistics accumulated each year by the 
registrar and his clerks, are destined, in the natural course of 
events, to serve as a basis for the sanitary operations of the board 
of health ; for the accomplishment of this purpose it is indispensable 
that they should first be submitted to the investigations of the 
hygienist. Unless so utilized, these statistics can be but a dead 
letter, and must remain practically valueless. They contain little 
more than the bald statement of disease and death. From this 
statement to recognize the causes of excessive and undue mortality, 
and the degree of its preventability, and to deduce suitable prophy¬ 
lactic measures, is a task which physicians only can be considered 
competent to undertake. 1 

The United States, as a whole, can not be said to have a 
system of vital statistics, regularly conducted, such as exists in 
many older countries. The sole attempts which have been 
made to collect the vital statistics of the country at large, have 
been those which constituted a part of the work of the United 
States census in its enumeration of the years i860, 1870, 
1880 and 1890. Much credit is due to Dr John S. Billings, 
U. S. A., for the intelligent supervision which he gave to that 
branch of the work. The volumes of mortality statistics which 
were compiled under his direction are extremely valuable, as 
showing the principal data referring to mortality for the cen¬ 
sus years in which the facts were collected. 

1) Second annual report of the board of health of Boston, 1874. Paper by Dr F. W. 
Draper, p. 73. 



66 


PUBLIC HYGIENE IN THE UNITED STATES 


No inquiry made at the end of the year, for which the data 
are desired, so far as vital statistics are concerned, can be con¬ 
sidered as complete or reliable, and Dr Billings estimates that 
the returns obtained by the census enumerators did not exceed 
60 or 70% of the actual number of deaths. He further says: 

Our census affords the only opportunity of obtaining even an 
approximate estimate of the birth and death rates of much the 
larger part of the country, which is entirely unprovided with any 
satisfactory system of state and municipal registration. 

It remains a fact, therefore, that only a minor fraction 
of the states have thus far adopted and carried out a system 
of regular collection and publication of their vital statistics. 
The states which have maintained a fairly complete system 
for several years are the following: 

Maine beginning with 1892 
New Hampshire beginning with 1880 
Vermont beginning with 1857 
Massachusetts beginning with 1842 
Rhode Island beginning with 1853 
Connecticut beginning with 1848 
New York beginning with 1893 1 
New Jersey beginning with 1878 
Delaware beginning with 1881 
Michigan beginning with 1897 

In addition to the foregoing there has also been a partially 
complete collection of marriages, births and deaths for several 
years, in Michigan, Minnesota, Indiana, Kentucky and Ala¬ 
bama. In Michigan, under the recent energetic supervision 
of Dr Wilbur, the registration has been very much improved, 
and now includes the returns from nearly every district in 
the state. 

The existence of registration laws, enforced quite thoroughly 
in recent years in the 6 New England states, renders it pos¬ 
sible to present the accompanying table of the principal vital 
statistics of these states for the 5 years 1893-97. For the 
sake of economy in space, the aggregates of the 5 years and 
the mean rates of the period only are presented. 

i) From Public health laws , New York. ch. 661. 



VITAL STATISTICS 






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68 


PUBLIC HYGIENE IN THE UNITED STATES 


The chief points shown by these figures are the higher 
birth and death-rates in the 3 more densely settled states of 
Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut; slightly lower 
death-rates from typhoid fever in these states than in the 3 
northerly states (a mean death-rate for this disease of 2.83 per 
10,000 living, in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut, 
as compared with 3.12 in the 3 other states), and much higher 
death-rates from diphtheria and cholera infantum in the 3 
densely settled states than in the 3 other states. 

The mean density of population of the 3 states of Maine, 
New Hampshire and Vermont at the time of the census of 
1890, was 28.5 per square mile, while that of the 3 southern 
states of the group was 238.4, or more than 8 times as great. 1 

By a careful estimate, derived from the census year 1880, 
and by comparison with the more accurate returns of the large 
cities, Dr Billings came to the conclusion that the death-rate 
of the United States, in 1880, was very close to 18 per 1000 
living inhabitants. He also concluded that the birth-rate was 
36 per 1000, or twice the death-rate. The death-rate of the 
New England states, taken together, has averaged about 19 
per 1000 for the past 25 years. That of the older middle 
states about 17 or 18, while that of the more newly settled 
western states has probably been as low as 13 or 14 per 1000, 
since in these states there is a predominance of inhabitants 
at the healthy ages of life. 2 

On several of the wing-frames in the hygiene section of the 
exposition, will be found some diagrams which present the 
death-rates of the registration states in different years, to¬ 
gether with the death-rates from different diseases, mostly of 
the infectious class. In some instances the latter are repre¬ 
sented as a percentage of the mortality from all causes. This 

1) The figures in this table may be compared with those presented for the previous year 
(1892) in “a summary of the vital statistics of the New England states ,” published by the 
secretaries of those states. This summary contains further information as to the distribution 
by sexes, ages and nativity, and the statistics of the principal cities and larger towns. P. S. 
King & Son, London, Eng., and Damrell & Upham, Boston, Mass. 

2) The death-rate of persons aged from io to 30 years, is from 6 to 7 per 1000 annually, 
consequently, a newly settled district having a preponderance of persons at those ages, will have 
a lower death-rate than an older district in which the relative number of aged persons is greater. 



VITAL STATISTICS 


69 


method was adopted in states and cities having imperfect 
registration, in consequence of the impossibility of presenting 
an accurate showing by the former method. 

On the whole, the registration of vital statistics is progress¬ 
ing in the United States, but not as rapidly as might be 
wished. Considerable impetus has been given to the discus¬ 
sion of the subject, by the frequent presentation of papers at 
the meetings of the American public health association and 
the American statistical association. The importance of the 
subject as a foundation for our accurate knowledge in matters 
pertaining to public health, can not be overestimated. Those 
states, in fact, which have made the most commendable 
progress in preventive medicine are also the states which have 
brought their systems of registration to the highest degree of 
perfection. 

By far the best general presentation of the vital statistics of 
the United States is that which may be found in the volumes 
of the United States census of 1880 and 1890, including the 
special volumes devoted to the vital statistics of certain large 
cities. The reports of 5 of the New England states, with 
those of Michigan and Minnesota, are published in separate 
volumes, while those of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, 
and several other states, are incorporated in the annual reports 
of the state boards of health. Within the past year much im¬ 
provement has also taken place in the registration of Indiana, 
in consequence of the exertions of its state board of health. 

Classification. The question of the classification of diseases 
has assumed increased importance, in recent years, in conse¬ 
quence of the rapid progress of medicine. The system in 
general use for nearly half a century in the registration states 
and chief cities of the United states, has been that of Dr Farr, 
and has served a useful purpose. This system, however, is 
now shown to be far behind the present demands of medical 
progress, and improved methods are urgently called for. 

The principal substitute for the older systems now offered 
and also now accepted and adopted by a considerable number 


7o 


PUBLIC HYGIENE IN THE UNITED STATES 


of authorities throughout the world, national, state and munic¬ 
ipal, is that of Dr Bertillon of Paris. 

This system was brought to public notice in the United 
States, in a paper by Dr Bertillon, presented at a meeting of 
the International statistical institute, at the Columbian exposi¬ 
tion at Chicago, in August 1893, and was later on the subject 
of discussion at the meeting of the American public health 
association, at the same place, in October 1893. 

Subsequently, the committee on vital statistics of the same 
association, after a full discussion of the subject, reported in 
its favor, and their recommendation was endorsed by the 
association in October 1898. 1 This committee, through the 
commendable activity of its secretary, Dr Wilbur, has accom¬ 
plished much toward the introduction of the system in several 
of the registration states and in some of the larger cities. A 
very full and complete presentation of the system, with minor 
details and adaptations to an American population, is printed 
in the monthly bulletin of vital statistics of Michigan, begin¬ 
ning with February 1898. 

Rural Hygiene 

In the United States, the population occupying the rural 
districts is still largely in the majority, and probably amounts 
to nearly 50 millions. 

(By the census of 1890 the rural population was estimated 
at 71 % of the whole, or about 44 millions.) 

There must necessarily be a large ratio of the population en¬ 
gaged in the pursuits of agriculture, since the broad prairies 
and other agricultural lands of this large territory furnish food, 
not only for the domestic population, but also send ample 
supplies every year to feed the inhabitants of other countries. 

The preservation of the health of this portion of the popu¬ 
lation is a matter of quite as much importance as that 
which relates to the dwellers in cities; and while it is true 
that the average length of life of the farmer is greater than 

1) See Transactions American public health association , 1898. p. 311. 



RURAL HYGIENE 


7 1 


that of people engaged in other occupations, it might un¬ 
doubtedly be lengthened by closer attention to sanitary 
principles. There are few occupations in which hygiene is 
more neglected. The farmer pleads that he can not afford to 
take measures for ventilating, warming or draining his house. 
On the contrary, he can not afford not to take these pre¬ 
cautions. 

Much improvement has actually taken place in those states 
and districts where an awakening of the people to the need of 
better modes of living has been brought about by various 
means, either through the occurrence of such epidemics as 
neglect and carelessness often produce, or through active 
missionary work of a sanitary nature. In the following direc¬ 
tions there is room for much improvement in the sanitary 
conditions of the rural population. 

The conditions referred to are : i) A good location of the 
home, having a sunny exposure, with dry soil and freedom 
from dampness. 2) A well-planned house, adapted to the 
wants of its inmates. 3) Thorough drainage and disposal of 
the household wastes, so that neither harm, nor annoyance to 
others can take place. 4) A pure water-supply; this is a 
point of special importance in the case of dairy farms, since 
the farmer is then a distributor of food to populations living 
at a distance, and it oftens happens that a polluted water- 
supply at the dairy causes an epidemic of disease among the 
consumers of the milk when this water is used for washing 
cans and cooling the milk. 

Another defect in the hygiene of the rural population of 
the United States is that of badly selected or badly cooked 
food. Notwithstanding the great abundance and variety of 
food, both animal and vegetable, which is produced on the 
well-tilled farms of New England and on the western 
prairies and fertile fields of the south, it is undoubtedly true 
that the food of the farmer is less varied and less wholesome 
than that of the urban population. 

In the more densely settled states it often happens that the 


72 


PUBLIC HYGIENE IN THE UNITED STATES 


better and the more nutritious products of the farm (eggs, 
and the products of the dairy) are sent to the markets of the 
neighboring cities, while the farmer’s family is fed on a 
limited and less nutritious diet. The chief defects of the diet 
of the rural population may be stated as follows : 

Too exclusive use of fried food. 

Salt meat, to the exclusion of fresh meat. 

Exclusive use of fine wheat flour in the place of the 
coarser and more wholesome sorts of meal and flour which 
were largely in use a half century since. 

Pork in some form is used as food by a very large part of 
the population of temperate climates, and when it is the prod¬ 
uct of healthy animals it is a nutritious and wholesome food 
for all who are accustomed to a life of toil, and for those who 
have naturally vigorous constitutions. 

Swine, however, are subject to many diseases, some of 
which, specially those of a parasitic nature, are communicable 
to man. 

It has been observed that those animals which were fed on 
the offal and garbage of cities were infected in a much greater 
degree than those which were fed on wholesome food. 

It is only a few months since the writer was called to 
investigate 2 outbreaks of trichinosis, in which more than 50 
persons were taken ill and 5 died. The disease is almost 
unknown among persons of American birth, since the latter 
invariably use pork thoroughly cooked, while the eating of 
raw pork is quite a common practice among those of foreign 
birth, specially among Germans. 

Tape-worm, also, usually has its origin in eating the flesh 
of swine which has been insufficiently cooked. 

The government provides an ample force of inspectors at 
the principal pork-packing places, for the purpose of securing 
protection to the consumers of this pork in other countries to 
which it is exported. But the agriculturist himself, who 
produces the pork upon his farm, has no protection for his 
family who may be consumers of the same, except that which 


THE CLIMATE OF THE UNITED STATES 


73 


common sense at once suggests — the thorough cooking of the 
meat. This applies with greater force to those farms which 
are near great cities, to which the offal of these cities is often 
hauled for the purpose of being fed to swine. Investigators 
have shown that this class of animals is much more liable to 
trichinosis than those which are fed on the healthful food 
raised upon a farm—meal, grain, potatoes and other vegetable 
foods. 

The proper ventilation of sleeping-rooms is another matter 
of importance, and one which is usually neglected. 

The Climate of the United States in its Relation 
to Health 

In a country which extends almost from the tropic of cancer 
in the south to Point Barrow in northern Alaska, several 
hundred miles beyond the Arctic circle, and from Eastport, 
Maine, in longitude 67° west, to the extremity of the Aleutian 
islands, at a point beyond 160° west, the range in all the 
factors which make up the somewhat indefinite term “ climate” 
must necessarily be great. 

That climate has a decided influence on the health of a 
given population is a well established fact. 

Yellow fever is a disease, for example, which rarely prevails 
north of latitude 35 0 , in the United States, and even when it 
once appears north of 35 0 it is easily prevented from spread¬ 
ing, but in the gulf states the greatest vigilance on the part of 
the sanitary authorities is necessary, both to prevent its intro¬ 
duction and to suppress it when once introduced. 

Pneumonia, in the United States, appears to destroy more 
lives in the high and mountainous districts than it does along 
the low lands of the sea-coast, while the opposite may be said 
of phthisis, which attacks the dwellers in low and damp 
districts more severely than those who inhabit the drier table¬ 
lands of the interior. Diphtheria is more prevalent in the 
colder, northern portions of the United States than in the 
south, and malarial fever is more prevalent in the south and 


74 


PUBLIC HYGIENE IN THE UNITED STATES 


southwest. These facts are vividly shown in Dr Billing’s 
maps in the United States census volumes of 1880 and 1890 
on vital statistics. 

The different factors which constitute climate — temperature, 
humidity, wind, rainfall, cloudiness and atmospheric pressure, 
have a varying effect upon health, the two first being prob¬ 
ably the most important. 

The disease with reference to which the greatest share of 
attention has been paid, so far as its relation to climate is 
concerned, is consumption, and many different parts of the 
country have been selected as places in which to establish 
resorts or sanitaria where this disease may be successfully 
treated, largely on account of the favorable influence of the 
environment which the local climate affords. New England, 
and particularly its sea-coast region, is ill adapted for persons 
of consumptive tendency, but health resorts for such persons 
have been established in the Adirondack regions of northern 
New York, in the higher Appalachian districts of North and 
South Carolina, in the high lands of the Rocky mountain slopes 
of Colorado and New Mexico, and in southern California. 

The death-rate from consumption in New Mexico is less 
than that of any other part of the United States. The semi- 
tropical and insular position of Florida, also give to it a repu¬ 
tation as a favorable resort throughout the winter for those 
who desire to escape from the more rigorous climate of the 
northern states at that season. 

The sea-coast from Cape Cod southward affords excellent 
facilities for sea-bathing throughout the summer months, and 
on the Florida and gulf coasts throughout the year. North of 
Cape Cod the temperature of the water in summer is from io° 
to 15 0 (5 0 to 8°C) colder than it is on the south side of the 
Cape. That of Vineyard Sound and places to the southward 
have a mean temperature in July and August usually above 
75° ( 2 4°C)- 

Great interest in the study of climatology in its relation to 
health has been awakened in recent years by the organization 


MINERAL SPRINGS 


75 


of the American climatological association, which holds annual 
meetings for the discussion of the subject, and has published 
an annual report each year since its organization in 1884. 

Mineral Springs 

The number of mineral springs which have been from time to 
time discovered within the limits of the United States amounts 
to from 8000 to 10,000. The waters of 300 of them have 
been offered for sale to the extent of more than 21,000,000 
gallons, valued at about $5,000,000 (25,906,735 fr). 

The waters of these springs differ very greatly in their 
chemical constitution, from water which contains as small an 
amount of solid residue as 25 or 30 parts per million, and is 
therapeutically but little different from distilled or rain water, 
to those highly charged springs, often having a high tem¬ 
perature, in which chlorides, sulphates, carbonates and other 
salts abound. The former usually owe their therapeutic action 
more to the quantity than to the quality of the water taken, 
while the latter undoubtedly exercise definite action in con¬ 
sequence of the mineral constituents which they contain. 

A more careful study and investigation of these springs 
than has yet been made would undoubtedly bring to light 
many important facts in regard to their value which are yet 
unknown and unrecognized. A systematic and rational class¬ 
ification is much needed, as well as a uniform method of 
chemical analysis and interpretation. Specially is it desirable, 
in order to compare results with those of the best foreign 
authorities, to abandon the old expression of “grains per 
gallon,” substituting therefor some of the ordinary decimal 
expressions of notation. The best summary of the springs of 
the United States, in recent years, is that which was published 
by Dr A. C. Peale in the annual report of the director of the 
United States geological survey, 1892-1893, containing the 
maps representing the location of the different mineral springs 
whose waters are used commercially, and the health resorts 
located near them. 


76 


PUBLIC HYGIENE IN THE UNITED STATES 


The Relation of the General Government to the 
Public Health 

Several departments of the general government have greater 
or less connection with sanitary questions, either directly or 
indirectly, and specially those departments which have medical 
officers as an essential part of their working forces. 

The surgeon general's office of the war department main¬ 
tains a constant oversight of the health of the military forces, 
including the sanitation of military camps, barracks, forts, 
hospitals and everything that pertains to military hygiene; 
the food of the soldier in time of war, and specially the selec¬ 
tion of the daily ration in tropical climates, his clothing and 
equipments, require the most careful attention. 

The library of the surgeon general’s office contains the 
largest collection of medical works in the world, as shown in 
its published catalog. 

The navy department, through its bureau of medicine and 
surgery, exercises a similar care over the sailors and marines 
of the navy, and much of the well known efficiency of this 
branch of the service, in the recent war, was due in a great 
measure to the fact that the personnel of the service, the 
sailors and marines, were selected healthy men, well-fed, well- 
clothed and well-cared for. 

The department maintains a system of naval hospitals dis¬ 
tributed at the several naval stations in different parts of the 
country. It has also established a museum of hygiene at 
Washington, in which is exhibited a great variety not only 
of the sanitary appliances used on naval vessels, but also a 
general exhibit of subjects pertaining to public health. 

The marine hospital service is a branch of the treasury 
department, originally constituted for the purpose of giving 
relief to “ sick and disabled seamen.” For this purpose a 
large number of well equipped hospitals are maintained, at 
or near the principal sea-ports and lake-ports throughout the 
country. The service is under the charge of a supervising 
surgeon general, with a large force of medical officers. 

The functions of this branch of the public service (organ- 


RELATION OF THE GOVERNMENT TO PUBLIC HEALTH 77 

ized near the close of the last century) have been enlarged 
from time to time, the most important of its new duties being 
the inspection of quarantine. 

Under the Act of 1893 (February 15) giving additional 
powers to this branch of public service, its surgeon gen¬ 
eral was required to examine all local seaboard quarantine 
regulations, and to cooperate with such local authorities in the 
enforcement of the local and national regulations, as well 
as those relating to intercourse between states and territories. 
Provision was also made for rules and regulations for such 
places as had insufficient protection under local authorities. 

The same act provided for obtaining and publishing weekly 
reports of the sanitary condition of foreign ports from which 
infectious diseases might be transmitted to the United States. 

By an Act of 1890 (March 27) the same authority was 
required to prepare rules and regulations (under the direction 
of the secretary of the treasury) for preventing the spread of 
cholera, yellow fever, small-pox or plague from one state or 
territory to another. The secretary of the treasury is also 
authorized to employ inspectors to execute such regulations. 

Another branch of public service which is in close touch 
with the subject of hygiene in certain directions is the depart¬ 
ment of agriculture, which maintains in its bureau of animal 
industry a continuous investigation of animal diseases, and spe¬ 
cially of those which are communicable from animals to man, and 
hence are of vital consequence from a sanitary point of view. 

The chemical work of this department has also rendered use¬ 
ful service to public health, in consequence of the published re¬ 
sults of its investigations with reference to the food products of 
the country, and its inquiries on the subject of food adulteration. 

Each of the foregoing branches of public service issues 
annual reports, together with many other special documents, 
as occasion requires. 

The census office, a branch of the department of the interior, 
collects and publishes information once in 10 years relating 
to the vital statistics of the population, reference to which is 
made in another part of this monograph (page 65). 


78 


PUBLIC HYGIENE IN THE UNITED STATES 


STATE MEDICINE 

The term 44 state medicine ” admits of a broader interpreta¬ 
tion than preventive medicine or public health, since it 
includes the latter, together with such correlated subjects as 
medical education, the registration of medical practitioners, 
inquest laws, medical expert testimony, and other topics 
involving the relation of the physician to the state in his pro¬ 
fessional capacity. 

Medical Education 

A comparison of the condition of the medical education 
to-day in the United States with that which prevailed in the 
middle of the century shows a very great advance, and the 
opportunities furnished to every young man or woman now 
entering upon a course of study are such as were little 
thought of in earlier periods. Within a few years the period 
of attendance upon lectures at many medical colleges has 
increased from 2 to 3 courses and in some to 4. There is 
also a tendency to require that chemistry, botany, comparative 
anatomy, and other allied branches should be considered as 
preliminary work, and that the medical student should receive 
instruction in them at some college or scientific school pre¬ 
vious to beginning his course of medical study. In the 
department of instruction in preventive medicine, or hygiene, 
there is opportunity for much improvement, and the day is not 
far distant when our medical men will receive special training 
for this line of work, as is now afforded in England where the 
degree of D.P.H. (diploma in public health) is now granted. 
There is a rapidly increasing demand for men to fill the places 
of public health officials, chemists and bacteriologists for this 
special line of work. The importance of the position of 
medical men in this connection is recognized by the fact that 
no sanitary board or organization in any state or large city is 


STATE MEDICINE 


79 


ever established without including one or more physicians in 
its membership, and in very many instances the entire board 
consists of medical men. 

It is therefore important, not only that educational facilities 
should be afforded for this branch of official work, but that 
they should be of the highest character. It is also important 
that such men should receive special training in the recogni¬ 
tion of the principal infectious diseases, by means of clinical 
instruction. It is on account of the lack of this education that 
errors in the diagnosis of small-pox are of very frequent 
occurrence among those who are called on to fill the position 
of health officers of cities. A recent writer 1 states that in 2 
different towns of about 10,000 inhabitants, every physician 
except 1 failed to recognize small-pox. In another town of 
4000 inhabitants all but 1 physician failed to recognize the 
disease. In another town with an outbreak of 30 to 40 cases 
the disease was called a “ continued eruptive fever”, no one 
recognizing it, and this mistake has occasionally accounted 
for the rapid spread of the disease. 

The development of the laboratory as a useful adjunct, not 
only of medical education, but also of state and municipal 
sanitary work, has contributed vastly to the successful opera¬ 
tion of boards of health and the prevention of the spread of 
disease and the consequent lowering of the death-rate. 

There can be no doubt that the recent general inauguration 
of a system of state examinations of applicants for license to 
practise medicine has had a good effect in raising the 
standard of medical education throughout the country, in 
suppressing quackery and diminishing the number of ignorant 
pretenders and consequently of producing better material 
from which competent health officers may be selected. 

The old time practitioner, the country doctor, an all-round 
physician who was accustomed to rely on his own resources, 
and to accept all emergencies which came to his door, even to 


1) Article on medical education by Dr Geo. G. Groff, American academy of medicine. 
Bulletin. February 1898. p. 248. 



8 o 


PUBLIC HYGIENE IN THE UNITED STATES 


the extraction of teeth, the occasional performance of a capital 
operation, or relieving the distress of a sick or injured 
domestic animal, is becoming less and less numerous, while 
every branch of specialism is full to overflowing. One great 
reason for this changed condition is the tendency to urban 
aggregation in all parts of the country. It was quite a com¬ 
mon saying at an earlier period that 1000 people were 
sufficient to support a physician, as an average throughout the 
community, and that was about the usual proportion. Pos¬ 
sibly, the former part of this statement is true to-day as an 
average, since a very considerable portion of the whole 
number of medical men is in the position of waiting for 
support. 

The actual number of registered physicians in the United 
States, according to the most recent count, shows an average 
for the whole of about i to 647 inhabitants, but the propor¬ 
tion in the different states varies greatly. California appears 
to be the state which is most liberally supplied, the proportion 
there being 1 physician to 420 inhabitants, while in Iowa 
nearly the same conditions prevail. On the other hand, in 
North and South Dakota and New Mexico, the proportion 
was respectively 1 to 1285, 1296 and 1391 inhabitants. 

The following table presents the figures for each state. For 
some of the states the figures will probably require revision at 
the next census but may be regarded as approximately correct. 
The relative conditions in each state are also graphically shown 
on chart No. 5. 



m b 

































































































































































' 









i 



















O ^ 

o 

O'-' 

2 : 10 

So 

-750 

0001- 

O 

lc> 

1 

THAN 1Z5 

50 - 1300 

ai 

M 

500 - 

l 

■0001 

UJ 






























































































































































































































































































































































































































STATE MEDICINE 


8 l 


NUMBER OF INHABITANTS TO EACH REGISTERED PHYSICIAN 


Name of state 


California 
Iowa 
Indiana 
Vermont 
Ohio 

Illinois 
Arizona 
Missouri 
Colorado 
Tennessee 
Massachusetts 
New Hampshire 
Maryland 
New York 
Texas 
Arkansas 
Maine 
Kentucky 
Nevada 
Michigan 
Connecticut 
Rhode Island 
Oregon 
West Virginia 
Pennsylvania 
Oklahoma 1 
Florida 
Delaware 
Montana 
Idaho 
Kansas 


Number of inhabitants 
to each physician, 
1898 


420 
422 
466 
480 
492 J 

517 

524 

527 

535 

538 

539 
553 
559 

565 

57° 

580 

594 

607 

614 

625 

659 

659 

669 

670 
670 
692 
696 
705 
717 

727 

737 


Less than 
500 


500-750 


Name of state 


Virginia 

810' 

Georgia 

811 

New Jersey . 

827 

Alabama 

843 

Washington . 

887 

Wisconsin . . 

888 

Louisiana 

908 

Mississippi . 

914 

Utah 

978 J 

Minnesota . 

1043' 

Wyoming 

1065 

Nebraska 

1085 

South Carolina 

1148 

North Carolina 

11 73 J 

North Dakota 

1285' 

South Dakota 

1296 

New Mexico 

i39i. 


Number of inhabitants 
to each physician, 


■750-IOOO 


More than 
1250 


Registration of Medical Practitioners 
The first general movement in the direction of establishing 
general or state boards of health began about the middle of 
the century, and resulted in the establishment of the Louisiana, 
Massachusetts and California boards before the close of 1870. 2 
No recent or successful movement, however, was organized 
in the direction of limiting and restricting medical practi¬ 
tioners, till a law was enacted in Illinois, in 1877, for the 
regulation of medical practice and conferring authority for its 

1) In the chart facing this page, the space assigned to Oklahoma is blank, in conse¬ 
quence of uncertainty as to the population at the time of preparing the chart, but information 
received later affords an opportunity to state the population for 1898 with reasonable 
accuracy, and hence, to present the figures given above (see appendix I, p. 87). 

2) See notes on these boards in appendix 3. 























82 


PUBLIC HYGIENE IN THE UNITED STATES 


enforcement on the state board of health. 1 Up to that 
time the most ignorant and untrained charlatans could practise 
in any part of the United States without fear of the law, but 
by the persistent and untiring energy of Dr John H. Rauch, 
secretary of the Illinois board of health, the law was carried 
into effect, and as a result “out of 3600 non-graduates who 
were practising medicine in the state when the act went into 
effect, about 1400 left the state, or ceased to practise.” 2 
These irregular practitioners settled in other states for the 
transaction of their business, wherever a credulous public 
was willing to tolerate their presence. 

This action on the part of Illinois resulted almost immedi¬ 
ately in the attempt of many other states to take similar 
measures for their own protection, and in several instances, 
mostly in the new states, similar laws were enacted with but 
little opposition, while in some of the older states it was only 
after several years of persistent and long-continued effort, 
chiefly on the part of the medical profession, that legislation 
was finally secured. The chief points in these laws consist: 

1) In the registration of all practising physicians. 

2) In the examination of candidates for license to practise. 

The first of these, registration, is a feature of all the laws, 

while examination of candidates is not required in all the 
states. In some of them the presentation of a diploma from 
some reputable medical college is the essential feature, and the 
examination of candidates is not required. Dr Mclntire 
classifies the states in 4 groups, according to their several 
requirements, and his classification has been followed in 
preparing the following list, and also chart No. 6, in which 
the facts shown in the list are graphically presented. 3 

The following summary presents the results of examinations 

1) Laws had existed in some states for nearly a century restricting medical practice, 
but they had either become inoperative, or had been repealed. For a full discussion of this 
subject, see annual address by Dr R. H. Fitz in Transactions of Massachusetts medical 
society, v. 16, 1894. p. 275. 

2) Buck’s hygiene, v 1. p. 58. 

3) American academy of medicine. Bulletin. February 1897. P* 7 °°~ For details of 
this classification, see appendix i„ 












/ 


l, 






















. 











































































































































































































' 










REGISTRATION PHYSICIANS 






















































































































































































































































































































































































































































































STATE MEDICINE 


83 


made in 1898 in those states from which accurate returns 
could be obtained. 1 

Total number examined 2890; number accepted 2328; 
rejected 562. 

Registration of Physicians 


Class A 

Alabama 

Arizona 

Connecticut 

Delaware 

District of Columbia 

Florida 

Georgia 

Indian Territory 

Iowa 

Louisiana 

Maine 

Maryland 

Massachusetts 

Minnesota 

Mississippi 

Montana 

New Hampshire 

New Jersey 

New York 

North Carolina 

North Dakota 

Oregon 

Pennsylvania 

South Carolina 

Tennessee 

Utah 

Vermont 

Virginia 

Washington 

West Virginia 


Class B 

Arkansas 

Colorado 

Illinois 

Indiana 

Missouri 

New Mexico 

Oklahoma 

Rhode Island 

Wisconsin 

Class C 

California 

Kentucky 

Nebraska 

Ohio 

South Dakota 
Texas 

Class D 

Idaho 

Kansas 

Michigan 

Nevada 

Wyoming 


) American academy of medicine. Bulletin . February 1899. p.691. 



8 4 


PUBLIC HYGIENE IN THE UNITED STATES 


There is very little uniformity in the details of the laws, but 
they can all be classed under 4 general divisions, as follows i 1 

A) Examination required. 

B) Certain diplomas are accepted ; all other applicants must 
be examined. 

C) Only a diploma is required. 

D) The laws practically impose no restriction. 

Inquest Systems of the United States 

The method of procedure employed in most of the United 
States for the investigation of the cause of death in cases 
occurring from violent, sudden, or suspicious causes is the coro¬ 
ner system, a method which had its origin in England at 
least 7 or 8 centuries ago, but is unknown either in Scotland 
or on the continent of Europe. For the efficient operation of 
this system several officials are usually employed, a coroner, a 
coroner’s physician, a jury of 6 men or more, and an officer 
who is employed to summon the jury. The coroner usually 
makes a view or a superficial examination of the body, and if 
in his opinion the cause of death was of a violent or criminal 
character, he causes a jury to be summoned, and if a more 
thorough investigation is required, in order to reveal the cause 
of death, he directs a medical man to make an autopsy. 

Following the example of some of the principal continental 
countries some of the states have introduced a new and more 
direct method for the investigation of this class of deaths, 
namely, the medical examiner system, the principal features of 
which are the following: the abolition of the jury and the 
substitution in place of the coroner (an official supposed to 
combine the incongruous functions of law and medicine) of a 
medical examiner to determine the cause of death, and the 
reference of all legal questions to a district judge. In those 
states where this plan has been adopted its operation has been 

1) American academy of medicine. Bulletin. February 1897; February 1898; 
February 1899. Articles entitled “State requirements for the practice of medicine,” by 
Charles Mclntire, A.M., M.D., Easton, Pa. 



INQUEST SYSTEMS OF THE UNITED STATES 85 

perfectly satisfactory, and there is no desire to return to the 
musty traditions of the past. 

The abolition of the jury was shown to be both rational and 
economical, since every case in which criminal violence is 
shown must necessarily be revised in the courts before another 
jury, whenever the actual culprit can be found, and this waste 
of the public funds, in paying 6 or more men who are 
usually absolutely unqualified to consider expert medical 
questions, constitutes a public farce. Cases of the grossest 
neglect, incompetence and fraud had become of such common 
occurrence under the old method that a change was deemed 
imperative. In a city of about 300,000 inhabitants there were 
47 coroners in commission, where 2 medical men with 1 asso¬ 
ciate now conduct the same work in a population 60% greater, 
and in a far more satisfactory manner. 1 

The medical system here referred to has been adopted 
either as a whole, or in part, in the states of Massachusetts, 
Rhode Island and Connecticut. 

1) Philadelphia medical journal , January 15, 1898. Article by the writer. 



86 


PUBLIC HYGIENE IN THE UNITED STATES 


Appendix I 


STATISTICAL TABLE 


I 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

7 

8 

9 

xo 

XI 

Name of state 

or 

territory 

Population, 

1890 

Estimated 

population, 

1898 

Has a 

state 

board 

of 

health 

Per capita 
expenditure by 
state boards of 
health, 1898 

Per cent of population 

in towns supplied with 

public water, i860 

Per cent of population 

supplied with public 

water, 1896-97 

Per cent of population in 

sewered towns, 1896-97 

Number of inhabitants 

to each physician, 1898 

Registration of physi¬ 

cians classified, 1899 

Frac¬ 
tions of 
a 

dollar 

Frac¬ 
tions of 
a 

franc 

Alabama 1 2 . . . 

1 5*3 017 

x 713 427 

Yes 1 

.0020 

.OIO 

0.4 

XI *5 

7-5 

843 

A 

Arizona .... 

59 620 

74 964 

No 

.OOOO 

.OOO 

0.0 

26.6 

5-3 

524 

A 

Arkansas . . . 

1 128 179 

1 388 702 

Yes 

.0036 

.OI9 

0.0 

7-7 

2.2 

580 

B 

California . . . 

1 208 130 

1 482 879 

Yes 

.0027 

.014 

20.1 

57-7 

39 - 1 

420 

C 

Colorado . . . 

412 198 

586 494 

Yes 

.OO42 

.022 

0.0 

57 -o 

43-2 

535 

B 

Connecticut 2 . . 

746 258 

845 7 °4 

Yes 

.OO92 

.048 

22.7 

73-5 

527 

659 

A 

Delaware . . . 

168 493 

186 001 

Yes 

.0070 

•°37 

18.9 

46.4 

38.3 

705 

A 

Dist. of Columbia 7 

230 392 

272 606 

- 

- 


• 




A 

Florida .... 

39 1 4 22 

488 965 

Yes 

.0866 

•450 

0.0 

22.3 

x 3*4 

696 

A 

Georgia .... 

1 837 353 

2 073 491 

No 

.OOOO 

.OOO 

3-3 

15-6 

10.2 

8ll 

A 

Idaho .... 

84 385 

125 805 

No 

.OOOO 

.OOO 

0.0 

22.2 

6.1 

727 

D 

Illinois 2 . . . . 

3 826 351 

4 425 135 

Yes 

.0021 

•Oil 

6.4 

5°-3 

38.0 

5 i 7 

B 

Indiana .... 

2 I92 404 

2 363 686 

Yes 

.0021 

•Oil 

0.7 

3°-5 

I17.9 

466 

B 

Indian Territory . 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 




- 

A 4 

Iowa. 

1 911 896 

2 I4I 72I 

Yes 

.0023 

.012 

0.0 

24.1 

11.8 

422 

A 

Kansas .... 

1 427 096 

1 771 896 

Yes 

.0015 

.008 

0.0 

24-3 

11.4 

737 

D 

Kentucky 2 . . . 

1 858 635 

2 026 591 

Yes 

.0012 

.006 

6.2 

21-5 

I2 -5 

607 

C 

Louisiana 2 . . . 

1 n8 587 

1 261 500 

Yes 

.OO4O 

.021 

23.8 

26.3 

1.0 

908 

A 

Maine .... 

661 086 

670 806 

Yes 

.0112 

.059 

1.2 

52.1 

26.3 

594 

A 

Maryland . . . 

1 042 390 

1128 348 

Yes 

.OO49 

.026 

3 X *3 

5 °-i 

42.6 

559 

A 

Massachusetts 

2 238 943 

2 603 629 

Yes 

.0224 

.116 

24-3 

90.1 

63-3 

539 

A 

Michigan . . . 

2 093 88q 

2 459 451 

Yes 

.0035 

.018 

6.x 

41.8 

30.1 

625 

D 

Minnesota . . . 

1 301 826 

1 718 668 

Yes 

.0105 

•055 

0.0 

41.0 

28.0 

io 43 

A 

Mississippi 2 . . 

1 289 600 

1 416 002 

Yes 

.0141 

.074 

0.0 

6.3 

1.0 

914 

A 

Missouri 2 . . . 

2 679 184 

3 087 827 

Yes 

.0016 

.008 

13-6 

32.6 

24.9 

527 

B 3 

Montana . . . 

132 159 

206 559 

No 

.OOOO 

.OOO 

0.0 

40.2 

23.1 

7 r 7 

A 

Nebraska 2 . . . 

1 058 910 

1 544 116 

Yes 

.0001 

.0005 

0.0 

35-9 

22.6 

1085 

C 

Nevada .... 

45 761 

32 557 

Yes 

.0015 

.008 

0.0 

52.6 

27.6 

614 

D 

New Hampshire . 

376 53 ° 

400 161 

Yes 

.0106 

•055 

6.7 

66.1 

39 - 1 

553 

A 

New Jersey . . 

1 444 933 

1 695 987 

Yes 

.0089 

.046 

26.8 

82.0 

637 

827 

A 

New Mexico 2 

153 593 

180 815 

Yes 

.OOOO 

.OOO 

0.0 

17.4 

3-6 

139 1 

B 

New York . . . 

5 997 853 

6 729 839 

Yes 

.0052 

.027 

34-7 

72-3 

58.8 

565 

A 

North Carolina . 

1 6x7 947 

1 792 505 

Yes 

.OOII 

.006 

0.0 

7.6 

i .6 

1173 

A 

North Dakota. . 

182 719 

299 367 

Yes 

.OO4O 

.021 

0.0 

12.5 

4-5 

1285 

A 

Ohio. 

3 672 316 

4 ° 5 X 7 i 9 

Yes 

.OO4O 

.021 

9.6 

42.9 

32.6 

492 

C 

Oklahoma 2 . . . 

56 496 

3x1 400 8 

Yes 

.OO32 

.OI7 

0.0 

26.6 

7-4 

692 

B 

Oregon .... 

3 i 3 767 

424 966 

No 

.OOOO 

.000 

0.0 

40.2 

26.0 

669 

A 

Pennsylvania . . 

5 258 014 

6 038 112 

Yes 

.0010 

.005 

27.0 

66.0 

40.9 

670 

A 

Rhode Island 2 . 

345 5o6 

400 686 

Yes 

.0142 

.074 

29.0 

89.7 

56.0 

659 

B 

South Carolina . 

1 151 149 

1 275 607 

Yes 

.0012 

.006 

0.0 

10.6 

5-5 

1148 

A 

South Dakota 2 « 

328 808 

513 240 

Yes 

.OOO97 

.005 

0.0 

16.4 

3 - x 

1296 

C 

Tennessee . . . 

1 767 518 

1 947 645 

Yes 

.OO29 

.015 

x -7 

15-2 

8.1 

538 

A 

Texas 3 . . . . 

2 235 523 

2 75 ° 542 

Yes 3 

.0016 

.008 

0.0 

19.8 

8.4 

570 

C 

Utah. 

207 905 

259 °59 

Yes 

.0098 

.051 

0.0 

39-8 

30.1 

978 

A 

Vermont . . . 

332 422 

332 53 ° 

Yes 

.0301 

.160 

1.4 

39-3 

17.1 

480 

A 

Virginia.... 

1 655 980 

1 770 712 

Yes 

.OOII 

.006 

4.4 

18.9 

10.9 

810 

A 

Washington . . 

349 39 ° 

568 809 

Yes 

.00066 

.003 

0.0 

5°-6 

32.1 

887 

A 

West Virginia 2 . 

762 794 

878 264 

Yes 

.0017 

.009 

4*7 

I 3-5 

6.2 

670 

A 

Wisconsin . . . 

1 686 880 

x 983 986 

Yes 

.0028 

.015 

0.0 

367 

25.8 

888 

B 

Wyoming . . . 

60 705 

92 638 

No 

.0000 

.000 

0.0 

55-5 

* 9-3 

1065 

D 


1) The state board of health of Alabama is the state medical association. 

2) In these states the state board of health is also the board of registration of medical practitioners. 

3) Texas has a health officer who performs the duties of a state board of health. 

4) Cherokee and Choctaw nations only. 

5) A decision of supreme court has made the regulations inoperative. 

6) These are the figures of the territorial census of 1898. 

7) The District of Columbia is practically a municipality under control of the national government. 









































APPENDIX I 


87 


Notes on the Foregoing Table 

The table, appendix I, presents in detail the figures quoted 
under the topics relating to st 4 te boards of health, public water- 
supplies, sewerage, and registration of medical practitioners. Six 
charts also illustrate the same subjects. 

Column 3 Estimated population 1898. The figures in this 
column were obtained by the usual method adopted by most sani¬ 
tary authorities, the annual increase between the 2 previous census 
enumerations. No inflexible rule can be applied to the populations 
of the different states with accurate results, in consequence of the 
extremely variable conditions of migration which influence the dif¬ 
ferent parts of the country. It was therefore deemed best to adopt 
one method for all (except Oklahoma, where a state census was 
made in 1898), nearly a decade having elapsed since the last census, 
at the time of preparing this monograph. The results will probably 
be fairly correct for the older states and those having large popula¬ 
tions, but considerable allowance may possibly be necessary for the 
newer and rapidly increasing states and territories, such as Nebraska, 
Idaho, Washington, Montana, Oklahoma 1 and the 2 Dakotas. 

The population of only one state, Nevada, had diminished 
between the 2 census enumerations of 1880 and 1890, while that of 
Vermont was practically stationary. 

Alaska, the Indian territory, and the more recently acquired 
possessions are not treated in this table. 

The population of Alaska in 1890 was 32,052. The census of 
the Indian territory and reservations in other districts not included 
in the general enumeration of 1890 was 325,464. 

The District of Columbia is not embraced in the principal 
columns, since it should be treated as a municipality. The popula¬ 
tion of the district outside the city of Washington constitutes but a 
small fraction of the district. 

The figures in columns 5 and 6 were computed on the basis of 
the estimated population of 1898, since the financial statements of 
the different boards of health were chiefly of that year. 

The figures in column 7 were computed from the census enum¬ 
erations of i860. 

1) The census of 1890 gave this territory a population of 56,496, but a territorial cen¬ 
sus taken in 1898 found a population of 311,400, which seems reasonable, since the report 
of the territorial governor of the previous year (1897) states that there were 90,585 chil¬ 
dren of school age in the territory in that year. 



88 


PUBLIC HYGIENE IN THE UNITED STATES 


Those of columns 8 and 9 were computed from the census of 
1890, since the actual ratio of the estimated population of the towns 
supplied with water and sewers in 1896-97 to the estimated total 
population in the same years, would not differ very greatly from 
the ratio of the same towns in 1890 to the total population of 1890. 

The figures in column 10 were computed on the estimates given 
in column 3 and may, therefore, be subject to slight changes at 
the next census. 

The authority for the information presented in this table is as 
follows: 

Column 2 Populations. The United States census. 

Column 4 Transactions of the American public health associa¬ 
tion and correspondence, v. 24. Columbus, Ohio, 1898. 

Columns 5 and 6 Annual reports of state boards of health, the 
state laws of each state for 1897 and 1898, and from correspondence 
with the secretaries of state boards of health. The state laws 
present appropriations only, but the appropriations and the ex¬ 
penditures do not usually differ much, and the appropriation shows 
quite as well as the expenditures, the support given by the people 
to the general sanitary authority. In a few instances, in the case 
of unexpected epidemics, the appropriation has been largely ex¬ 
ceeded, and in some states this emergency is provided'for by a 
contingent fund. 

Columns 7, 8 and p Manual of American water works, editions 
of 1883 to 1897. 

Column 10 Polk’s register of physicians. Detroit, 1898. 

Column 11 Articles by Dr Mclntire in Bulletin of American 
academy of medicine, February 1897, February 1898 and Febru¬ 
ary 1899. 

Notes on columns 5 and 6 (expenditures): In most instances the 
figures were computed from the annual appropriations, in the fol¬ 
lowing instances from the expenditures : 

Connecticut: $5310 for general expenses in 1898, and $2404.35 
for water investigation. 

Florida: The state board of health has a revenue from quaran¬ 
tine fees. The receipts from this revenue in 1898 were $35,940.85. 

Maryland: Out of the total appropriation, $2500 is for food and 
drug inspection, $1800 for vital statistics, and $2500 for infectious 
disease investigation. 

Louisiana: The board receives no regular appropriation. The 


APPENDIX I 


89 


appropriation for 1898, on which the per capita expenditure was 
estimated, was a special appropriation “for first aid” to the 
parishes. The board derives a revenue from quarantine fees and 
inspection of illuminating oil. 

Massachusetts: The expenditures for 1898 were as follows : gen¬ 
eral expenses, $17,231.98; food and drug inspection, $11,062.68; 
protection of purity of inland waters, $29,999.66. 

Michigan: General expenses, $6000 ; $2500 to enable the board 
to supply teachers with information to teach in the schools the best 
methods of restricting and preventing dangerous communicable 
diseases. 

Pennsylvania: The board expended $383,852.62 in 1889 at 
the time of the great flood at Johnstown, including inspection and 
disinfection. In this flood, which was caused by the bursting of 
a dam near the head waters of the Conemaugh river, 2300 lives 
were lost. The board also expended $7800 in 1899 for the sup¬ 
pression of small-pox. 

Rhode Island: General expenditures, $3395*48; vital statistics, 
$1000; infectious diseases, $2292.52. 

Texas: The expenditure is made for frontier and sea-coast pur¬ 
poses, mainly for quarantine. 

Vermont: General expenses, $2000, and $8000 for maintenance 
of state laboratory. 

The figures presented in columns 5 and 6 have reference only to 
the amounts expended by, or appropriated for the use of state 
boards of health. These sums are only a small fraction of the 
amounts actually expended in the states for sanitary purposes. 
The exact sum expended by state boards of health in 1898 can not 
be stated, since in several instances appropriations only were 
returned, but making allowance for a slight difference between 
expenses and appropriations, the total sum expended by such 
boards in 1898 can not have been far from $360,000. The total 
amount expended in the country for all sanitary purposes, comprises 
a considerable number of items, and was very much greater than 
the sum named as expended by state boards of health alone. The 
municipal boards in each state, as a general rule, expend much 
more than the state boards, since the funds of those boards are 
chiefly devoted to executive work. 

For example, the state board of health of Rhode Island expended 
in 1898 $6,688, while the health commissioner of Providence, the 


90 


PUBLIC HYGIENE IN THE UNITED STATES 


chief city of the state, reports an expenditure of $110,484 for sani¬ 
tary purposes, including street cleaning and garbage collection. 
In some other states the ratio between these 2 items differs still 
more greatly. 

To the expenditures of state and municipal boards there should 
be added large sums paid for the work of inspection and slaughter 
of infected domestic animals, as well as that which is appropriated 
for the work of experiment stations and special food and dairy 
commissioners not connected with state boards of health. 

The general government also expends annually a considerable 
sum in its 3 branches of the military, naval and marine hospital 
service, in maintaining the health of the army, navy and the mer¬ 
chant marine, and for quarantine inspection. In the department 
of agriculture, the bureau of animal industry and other branches 
of service are maintained very largely for direct sanitary work 
affecting the health of the people at large. 

In the case of most of the older eastern states, the figures pre¬ 
sented represent an expenditure made for general sanitary purposes, 
whether of an advisory or of an executive character. But in the 
case of several of the southern states, and specially of those 
bordering on the gulf of Mexico, large powers have been given to 
the state boards almost exclusively for quarantine purposes, in 
preventing the introduction of certain infectious diseases, chiefly 
yellow fever, from the neighboring West India Islands and from 
Central and South America. 

In a few states the state board of health derives a revenue from 
the examination of applicants for medical registration. 

Note on column p, Louisiana: New Orleans had no completed 
system of sewers at the date of compiling this table, but a committee 
has recently been appointed to consider the subject and report on it. 

Puerto Rico: A general or superior board of health was estab¬ 
lished for the island of Puerto Rico in 1899, whose duty it is to 
have “ general supervision of the interests of the public health of 
the island, and to specially study its vital statistics.” 

The board is further required to ‘ ‘ make sanitary investigations 
and inquiries respecting the causes of disease ” and “ to disseminate 
information upon these and similar subjects among the people.” 

It is also required to make “sanitary inspections of public 
institutions” and to consider and report on “plans for all new 
water-supplies, sewerage plants,” etc. 


APPENDIX I 


91 


Its different duties and functions cover 23 different topics, all 
having reference to the public health. 

A letter from the secretary of the superior board of health, dated 
October 23, 1899, states that “ at this moment the existence of a 
case of small-pox is unknown on this island. Nine months ago a 
serious epidemic was threatened, and the disease prevailed over 
the whole island. Since then 800,000 vaccinations have been 
performed. It is possible to stamp out small-pox in Spanish- 
American countries. There have been no yellow fever cases all 
summer. No serious diseases have followed the hurricane.” 

The board also issued several circulars relating to the prevention 
of the spread of infectious diseases. The population of the island 
is about one million. Eight or ten towns have public water-sup¬ 
plies. Three larger towns have sewerage systems. 


92 


PUBLIC HYGIENE IN THE UNITED STATES 


Appendix II 

MUNICIPAL STATISTICS 



Population, 
census of 1890 

General death-rate 

Deaths from certain causes 
Percentage of total mortality 

Cost of 
mainten¬ 
ance of 
health 
dept. 

Square 
yards of 
streets 

swept per 
week 

Garbage 

burned 

or 

otherwise 
disposed of 

Consumption 

Typhoid fever 

Diphtheria 
and Crouo 

--±- 

Scarlet fever 

Cholera 

Infantum 

Cancer 

Albany 

94 9 2 3 

18.76 

12.7 

5 -o 

3-7 

•3 

3-8 

5 - z 

$9 146 

H 

H 

O 

00 

M 

H 

4 * 


Allegheny 

105 287 

14.16 

9-3 

4.0 

x.8 

.6 

5-2 

3 -o 

20 926 

600 000 

11 852 

Baltimore 

434 439 

18.82 

10.5 

x -9 

4.0 

•4 

3-8 

3-2 

81 252 

17 516 771 

144 820 

Boston 

448 477 

18.54 

12.4 

x.8 

1.8 

•3 

4.4 

I.X 

149 890 

8 660 440 

909 680 

Buffalo 

255 664 

12.25 

9-3 

2.2 

1.6 

•3 

5-6 

4-7 

43 659 

_2 

—2 

Chicago 

x 099 850 

13.92 

10.7 

2.8 

3 -o 

•3 

2-5 

3-5 

174 404 

8 848 500 

I 010 682 

Cincinnati 

296 908 

12.86 

12.3 

2.0 

z -4 

1 

r -4 

3-7 

4 1 245 

3 028 550 

36 910 

Cleveland 

261 353 

12.37 

9.6 

2.6 

3-6 

.6 

3-5 

3-7 

41 851 

_2 

_2 

Columbus 

88 150 

9.92 

15-8 

2.4 

1.1 

• I 

2.4 

5-6 

10 866 

_2 

_3 

Denver 

106 713 

u -54 

26.0 

2.1 

1.8 

•5 

2.0 

3-2 

40 298 

3 872 000 

12 OOO 

Detroit 

205 876 

13.89 

8.9 

1.1 

3-3 

•9 

5-6 

3-6 

43 048 

_1 

_2 

Indianapolis 

105 436 

10.83 

13.0 

2.2 

2.0 

•5 

3-5 

5 -i 

8 864 

_2 

_2 

Jersey City 

163 003 

18.36 

X 2.2 

2.0 

3-5 

z -7 

2.8 

2.5 

O 

O 

H 

La 

_2 

_2 

Kansas City 

132 716 

i °-73 

4.9 

1.9 

1.6 

•3 

1.6 

4.1 

34 999 

II 200 OOO 

25 OOO 

Louisville 

161 129 

13-59 

IO.4 

3-9 

1.2 

.X 

z -5 

3-9 

7 493 

1 770 423 


Milwaukee 

204 468 

10.34 

IO.9 

1.6 

x -5 

• I 

11.8 

5-7 

30 892 

4 882 532 

-4 

Minneapolis 

*64 738 

8.62 

I3.2 

4-4 

I -5 

• I 

1.8 

5-4 

38 109 

3 203 000 

_8 

Newark 

181 830 

17.78 

14.6 

1.0 

3-2 

•4 

7.2 

3 - z 

50 117 

1 987 392 

_3 

New Orleans 

242 039 

24.39 

I2.9 

2.7 

.2 

•o 1 

2.3 

2.6 

38 804 

1 333 200 

igi 250 

New York 8 9 

1 5 i 5 301 

18.68 

12.0 

1.0 

2.8 

I.X 

3-3 

3 - x 

535 569® 

_5 

4 527 204 

Omaha 

140 452 

6.29 

11.8 

3-6 

1.8 

.1 

5 -o 

5-o 

7 606 

480 OOO 

_3 

Philadelphia 

1 046 964 

17-56 

11.9 

2-9 

5-4 

•5 

5 -o 

3 - z 

247 164 

_2 

252 448 

Pittsburg 

238 617 

16.66 

6.8 

4.4 

1.8 

•5 

1.6 

2-3 

75 879 

10 666 665 

35 555 

Providence 

132 146 

17.60 

11.4 

1-4 

1.4 

• I 

5 -o 

4.2 

19 068 

_i 

_2 

Rochester 

133 896 

12.52 

X 2.2 

1.0 

z -9 

•4 

2.6 

5 -o 

8 742 

1 139 893 

_2 

St Louis 

451 770 

14-13 

II.4 

1.1 

2.3 

•3 

4-7 

3-4 

98 5 Z 5 

_2 

520 OOO 

St Paul 

*33 156 

8.51 

ZI -3 

2.3 

4-5 

.8 

1.8 

3 -o 

9 578 

3 385 300 

_2 

San Francisco 

298 997 

18.18 

z 5-9 

•9 

2.4 

.1 

•7 

5-7 

ZI 4 073 

_2 

_1 

Syracuse 

88 143 

12.18 

16.0 

3 -o 

2.6 

.8 

6.6 

2.3 

23 424 

I 933 88l 

21 972 

Toledo 

81 434 

9.10 

9.9 

2.2 

z -9 

•4 

4.1 

3-3 

12 722 

760 OOO 

_2 

Washington 

230 392 

20.58 

12.0 

2.9 

3-2 

•3 

2-3 

3 -o 

44 054 

_2 

-2 

Worcester 

84 655 

16.61 

12.3 

•7 

x. 9 

•3 

7-3 

3-3 

17 119 

334 099 

_S 










52 088 39o t 

86 710 761 8 

7 699 3738 


2) By contract. 

3) Disposed of by householders. 

4) 38,000 tons (34,580 tonneaux). 

5) Partly by contract. 


6) For the year 1896, quoted from report of that year, 

p. 59. (This does not include Brooklyn and 
other boroughs added in 1897 and making in all a 
population of about three and one-half millions.) 

7) 10,828,674 francs. 

8) 72,500,636 square meters. 

9) 5,886,370 cubic meters. 



















































APPENDIX II 


93 


Notes on the Foregoing Table 

This table is compiled from the bulletin of the United States 
department of labor (September 1899, No. 24), entitled “statis¬ 
tics of cities,” and presents certain sanitary statistics of the 32 
largest cities of the United States for the year 1898. 

The items presented are the following: 

Population, 1890. Death-rate, 1898 (upon an estimated population com¬ 
piled by the department). Percentage which each of the following diseases 
bore to the total mortality: Consumption. Typhoid fever. Diphtheria and 
croup. Scarlet fever. Cholera infantum. Cancer. Cost of maintenance 
of health departments. Square yards of streets swept per week. Cubic yards 
of garbage burned or otherwise disposed of. 

The figures in the column of expenses of health departments do 
not represent all expenses for sanitary purposes, since in some 
cities such departments as street cleaning and garbage disposal are 
administered by other boards. For example, in Providence, R. I., 
the total amount expended for sanitary purposes is reported by the 
health commissioners, in 1898, as $110,484.44 (572,354 fr.) of 
which more than three-fourths is expended by departments other 
than the board of health. 

In Pittsburgh, $143,619.63 (744,143 fr.) was expended in 1898 
for street cleaning, and $77,717.84 (402,683 fr.) for garbage 
collection and disposal by other boards. 

In Buffalo, $63,993.50 (331,572 fr.) was appropriated for the 
year 1899, which sum includes $15,000 for a free bath-house, and 
$5,000 for “ quarantine hospital.” In addition to the expenses of 
the health department, $310,840 (1,610,570 fr.) are appropriated 
for street cleaning, garbage and ash collection and disposal. 

In Minneapolis, $41,699 (216,057 fr.) was expended in 1898 for 
street cleaning, by a separate department. 

In New Orleans, the annual cost of street cleaning is about 
$58,000; garbage and ash collection, $97,000, and quarantine, 
$60,000; total, $215,000 (1,114,000 fr.). 

In Cleveland, the amount appropriated in 1899 for sanitary 
purposes, garbage and ash collection, and other minor matters, was 
$176,000 (916,062 fr.). 

In Chicago, the amount appropriated in 1899 for street cleaning 
was $385,424 (2,000,000 fr.) and for disposal of garbage and 
ashes, $450,000 (2,331,600 fr.). 


94 


PUBLIC HYGIENE IN THE UNITED STATES 


Appendix III 

NOTES ON THE HEALTH LAWS OF CERTAIN STATES 

The following laws are quoted chiefly for the purpose of show¬ 
ing the methods under which some of the first state boards of 
health were established, since these laws show radical differences 
in their organization. 

The state board of health of Louisiana, while nominally a state 
board of health, is practically a municipal board acting for the city 
of New Orleans. It was appointed chiefly to take charge of 
quarantine for the protection of the city, and consequently of the 
river population living above the city. This was its main object 
as stated in the Act of 1855, in which the qualifications of its 
members were stated as follows: “The said members shall be 
selected with reference to their known zeal in favor of a quaran¬ 
tine system.” Of the 28 sections in the organic Act of 1855, nearly 
all related to the one important subject of quarantine. 

As a municipal organization this board was created March 17, 
1818, under an act having the following title, “ An Act to establish 
a board of health and health officer, and to prevent the introduc¬ 
tion of malignant, pestilential and infectious diseases into the city 
of New Orleans.” 

By an act of March 15, 1855, entitled “An Act to establish a 
quarantine for the protection of the state ” the board of health and 
their successors were “ created a body corporate, under the name 
of the board of health of the state of Louisiana, to sue and be sued 
under that title” (section 27, Act of 1855), and the sum of $50,000 
was appropriated for its use. 

The board was again reorganized March 1870, and again April 
20, 1877, under the latter statute, it was authorized to act in con¬ 
junction with the city council, in the capacity of a board of health 
for the city of New Orleans. 

The following act is the organic law creating the state board of 
health of Massachusetts. It served as a model in the creation of 
many other boards, and is therefore quoted in full, together with 
that of California, the state which immediately followed Massachu¬ 
setts in creating a state board of health. 


APPENDIX III 


95 


An Act to establish a State Board of Health 

§ I The governor, with the advice and consent of the council, shall appoint seven per¬ 
sons who shall constitute the board of health and vital statistics. The persons so appointed 
shall hold their offices for seven years: provided, that the terms of office of the seven first 
appointed shall be so arranged that the term of one shall expire each year, and the vacan¬ 
cies so created, as well as all vacancies occurring otherwise, shall be filled by the governor 
with the advice and consent of the council; but any one may be reappointed. 

§ 2 The board shall take cognizance of the interests of health and life among the 
citizens of this Commonwealth. They shall make sanitary investigations and inquiries in 
respect to the people, the causes of disease, and especially of epidemics, and the sources of 
mortality and the effects of localities, employments, conditions and circumstances on the 
public health; and they shall gather such information in respect to those matters as they 
may deem proper, for diffusion among the people. They shall advise the government in 
regard to the location of any public institutions. They shall in the month of January, make 
report to the legislature of their doings, investigations and discoveries during the year ending 
December 31st, with such suggestions as to the legislative action as they may deem necessary. 

§ 3 The board shall meet at the State House once in three months, or as much oftener as 
they may deem expedient. No member, except the secretary, shall receive any compensa¬ 
tion, but the actual personal expenses of any member while engaged in the duties of the 
board shall be allowed and paid. 

§ 4 It shall be the duty of the board, and they are hereby instructed, to examine into, 
and report what, in their best judgment is the effect of the use of intoxicating liquor as a 
beverage, upon the industry, prosperity, happiness, health and lives of the citizens of the 
state. Also, what additional legislation, if any, is necessary in the premises. 

§ 5 The board shall elect a secretary, either from their own number, or otherwise; but 
when elected he shall be a member of the board, and their executive officer. He shall 
perform and superintend the work prescribed in this law, and such other duties as the board 
may require. He shall receive from the treasury, in quarterly payments, an annual salary 
of twenty-five hundred dollars and his necessary travelling expenses incurred in the perform¬ 
ance of official duties, after they have been audited by the board and approved by the 
governor and council, and all other necessary expenses arising in his office shall be paid out 
of the treasury in the same manner as those of the different departments of the government. 

Enacted June 21, 1869. 


The act establishing a state board of health in California is as 
follows : 

§ 1 The Governor shall appoint seven physicians, two from the city of Sacramento, and 
the other five from different sections of the state, who shall constitute the state board of 
health and vital statistics. The physicians so appointed shall hold their offices for four years 
and until their successors are appointed, and all vacancies in the board shall be filled by the 
Governor. 

§ 2 The state board of health shall place themselves in communication with the local 
boards of health, the hospitals, asylums and public institutions throughout the state, and 
shall take cognizance of the interests of health and life among the citizens generally. They 
shall make sanitary investigations and inquiries respecting the causes of disease, especially 
of epidemics, the source of mortality and the effects of localities, employments, conditions 
and circumstances on the public health; and they shall gather such information in respect to 
these matters as they may deem proper for diffusion among the people. They shall devise 
some scheme whereby medical and vital statistics of sanitary value may be obtained, and act 
as an advisory board to the state in all hygienic and medical matters, especially such as 
relate to the location, construction, sewerage and administrations of prisons, hospitals, 
asylums and other public institutions. They shall, at each biennial session of the legislature, 
make a report of their doings, investigations and discoveries, with such suggestions as to 
legislative action as they may deem proper. 

§ 3 It shall be the duty of the board, and they are hereby instructed, to examine into 
and report what, in their best judgment, is the effect of the use of intoxicating liquor, as a 
beverage, upon the industry, prosperity, happiness, health and lives of the citizens of the 
state; also, what legislation, if any, is necessary in the premises. 

§ 4 The board shall meet at the capital of the state, at least once in every three months, 
and as much oftener as they may deem proper. Their first meeting shall be held at the 


9<5 


PUBLIC HYGIENE IN THE UNITED STATES 


capital, at the expiration of one week after their appointment shall have been made, and 
three members shall always constitute a quorum for business. They shall elect from their 
own number a president and permanent secretary; the latter shall reside at the capital, and 
shall be their executive officer. No member, except the secretary, shall receive any com¬ 
pensation; but the actual traveling expenses of the members, while engaged in the duties of 
the board, shall be allowed and paid out of the general fund. _ 

§ 5 The secretary shall perform and superintend the work prescribed in this act, and 
shall perform such other duties as the board may require. He shall also furnish to the 
legislature, when in session, such information cognate to this act as from time to time they 
may deem necessary. An annual salary of twenty-five hundred dollars, and his office and 
other necessary expenses incurred in the performance of his duties, shall be paid to him in 
the same manner as that of other state officers. 

§ 6 The expenses of the board, including the salary of the secretary, shall not exceed 
four thousand dollars a year. 

Enacted April 15, 1870 


Some recent health acts of the state of Mississippi furnish an 
illustration of the sanitary necessities which are forced on the Gulf 
states in consequence of their close proximity to tropical countries, 
and on account of the prevalence in these states of a semi-tropical 
climate throughout the summer season. 

At a short extra session of the Mississippi legislature, in May 
1897, an act was passed creating a department of public health 
with enlarged powers, providing for its organization with powers 
and duties quite similar to those of other boards, but making the 
hospital medical college at Vicksburg the bureau of vital statistics, 
with power to appoint county boards and physicians, to collect 
such statistics, to obtain vaccine lymph, and make reports to the 
department (laws of Mississippi, 1897, ch. 15). 

By a later act of 1898, ch. 79, the state board of health is em¬ 
powered to examine applicants for medical practice. It is also 
authorized to take charge of districts infected with yellow fever and 
other dangerous diseases, and to apfly -pr o^> er restrictions , even to 
the extent of being -provided by the governor with military force , 
to ensure a thorough quarantine . (February 10, 1898.) 

The appropriations for the board were $20,000 for each of the 
years 1892 and 1893; $25,000 for each of the years 1894 and 
1895, and $50,000 for 1898, and $20,000 for 1899. In 1897 the 
expenses exceeded the appropriation by $28,591.55, which sum 
was promptly provided by the next legislature. 

An act of the state of Indiana passed in 1899 an d taking effect 
April 28, contains some features worthy of mention, which are 
as follows: 

By the terms of this act the state board of health is given 
certain authority over local boards of health, since the latter 
are required by section 8 of this act “to take prompt action to 


APPENDIX III 


97 


arrest the spread of contagious and infectious diseases, to abate 
and remove nuisances dangerous to the public health, as directed 
or approved by the state board of health, and perform such 
other duties as may be required of them by the state board of 
health pertaining to the health of the people. They shall elect a 
secretary, who shall be the health officer of the appointing board, 
and who shall be a graduate of a reputable medical college recog¬ 
nized by the state board of medical registration, who, if not already 
informed in hygiene and sanitary science, shall immediately so 
inform himself, according to the requirements of the state board of 
health.” His salary is determined by the number of the population. 
The state board of health is given power 4 4 to remove at any time, 
any county, city or town health officer for intemperance, failure to 
collect vital statistics, obey rules and by-laws, keep records, make 
reports or answer letters of inquiry of the state board, concerning 
the health of the people.” Provision is also made for giving the state 
board of health entire supervision of the vital statistics of the state. 

In Illinois, the pioneer state in relation to the registration of 
medical practitioners, a state board of health was created by a 
statute of May 25, 1877. By the terms of this act a board of 7 
persons was appointed to hold office for 7 years, the term of office 
of one member to expire each year. 

Four days afterward, May 29, 1877, additional powers were con¬ 
ferred upon this board as follows : 

44 Every person practising medicine, in any of its departments, 
shall possess the qualifications required by this act. If a graduate in 
medicine, he shall present his diploma to the state board of health 
... for verification as to its genuineness. If it is found genuine, 
and if the person named therein be the person claiming and pre¬ 
senting the same, the state board of health . . . shall issue the 
certificate to that effect, signed by all the members thereof, and such 
diploma and certificate shall be conclusive as to the right of the 
lawful holder of the same to practise medicine in this state. If 
not a graduate, the person practising medicine in this state shall 
present himself before said board, and submit himself to such 
examination as the said board shall require; and if the examina¬ 
tion be satisfactory to the examiners, the said board shall issue 
its certificate in accordance with the facts, and the lawful holder 
of such certificate shall be entitled to all the rights and privileges 
herein mentioned.” 


9 8 


PUBLIC HYGIENE IN THE UNITED STATES 


By other sections of this act provision was also made for fees 
and penalties, for the recording of certificates by county clerks, for 
the refusal or revocation of certificates, and for the licensing of 
itinerant venders of medicine. 

In section n, the term “practising medicine” is thus defined: 
“ Any person shall be regarded as practising medicine within the 
meaning of this act, who shall profess publicly to be a physician, 
and to prescribe for the sick, or who shall append to his name the 
letters, “ M.D.”. But nothing in this act shall be construed to 
prohibit gratuitous services in cases of emergency. And this act 
shall not apply to commissioned surgeons in the United States 
army and navy.” 

Similar legislation was soon introduced and enacted in other 
states, until nearly every state has now provided some form of 
restriction. In many, this function was given to the state board of 
health, and in a few of the newly constituted states this is the only 
duty of the state board of health. 

The following important act of Massachusetts is referred to on 
page 42. 

An Act to protect the Purity of Inland Waters, and to require Consultation 
-with the State Board of Health regarding the Establishment of 
Systems of Water-supply, Drainage and Sewerage. 

[Enacted June 9, 1886; amended May 18, 1888.] 

§ 1 The state board of health shall have the general oversight and care of all inland 
waters, and shall be furnished with maps, plans and documents suitable for this purpose, 
and records of all its doings in relation thereto shall be kept. It may employ such engineers 
and clerks and other assistants as it may deem necessary: provided, that no contracts or 
other acts which involve the payment of money from the treasury of the Commonwealth shall 
be made or done without an appropriation expressly made therefor by the general court. It 
shall annually on or before the tenth day of January report to the general court its doings in 
the preceding year, and at the same time submit estimates of the sums required to meet the 
expenses of said board in relation to the care and oversight of inland waters for the ensuing year, 
and it shall also recommend legislation and suitable plans for such systems of main sewers as 
it may deem necessary for the preservation of the public health, and for the purification and 
prevention of the pollution of the ponds, streams and inland waters of the Commonwealth. 

§ 2 Said board shall from time to time, as it may deem expedient, cause examinations 
of the said waters to be made for the purpose of ascertaining whether the same are adapted 
for use as sources of domestic water-supplies or are in a condition likely to impair the 
interests of the public or persons lawfully using the same, or imperil the public health. It 
shall recommend measures for prevention of the pollution of such waters, and for the 
removal of substances and causes of every kind which may be liable to cause pollution 
thereof, in order to protect and develop the rights and property of the commonwealth 
therein and to protect the public health. It shall have authority to conduct experiments to 
determine the best practicable methods of purification of drainage and sewage and disposal 
of the same. For the purposes aforesaid it may employ such expert assistance as may be 
necessary. 

§ 3 It shall from time to time consult with and advise the authorities of cities and 
towns, or with corporations, firms or individuals, either already having or intending to 
introduce systems of water-supply, drainage or sewerage, as to the most appropriate source 
of supply, the best practicable method of assuring the purity thereof or of disposing of their 


APPENDIX III 


99 


drainage or sewerage, having regard to the present and prospective needs and interest of 
other cities, towns, corporations, firms or individuals which may be affected thereby. It 
shall also from time to time consult with and advise persons or corporations engaged or 
intending to engage in any manufacturing or other business, drainage or sewage from which 
may tend to cause the pollution of any inland water, as to the best practicable method of 
preventing such pollution by the interception, disposal or purification of such drainage or 
sewage : provided, that no person shall be compelled to bear the expense of such consulta¬ 
tion or advice, or of experiments made for the purposes of this act. All such authorities, 
corporations, firms and individuals are hereby required to give notice to said board of their 
intentions in the premises, and to submit for its advice outlines of their proposed plans or 
schemes in relation to water-supply and disposal of drainage and sewage, and all petitions 
to the legislature for authority to introduce a system of water-supply , drainage or sewerage 
shall be accompanied by a copy of the recommendation and advice of the said board thereon . 
Said board shall bring to the notice of the attorney-general all instances which may come to 
its knowledge of omission to comply with existing laws respecting the pollution of water- 
supplies and inland waters, and shall annually report to the legislature any specific cases not 
covered by the provisions of existing laws, which in its opinion call for further legislation. 

§ 4 In this act the term “ drainage ” refers to rainfall, surface and subsoil water only, 
and “ sewage ” refers to domestic and manufacturing filth and refuse. 


The essential amendment of 1888 in the foregoing act consists 
in the italicized clause in the third section. 


IOO 


PUBLIC HYGIENE IN THE UNITED STATES 


Appendix IV 

The following table, condensed from the U. S. census of 1890 relating to Vital and 
Social Statistics, vol. 2, p. 3, will be found useful for consultation in regard to several 
of the sanitary items considered in the foregoing monograph: 

(28 cities of more than 100,000 population, 1890) 



Population, 1890 

Number of persons to each 
acre 

Number of dwellings 

Number of persons to each 
dwelling 

Number of miles of sewers 

House connections 

Per cent of city area in 

cemeteries 

Number of trains daily 

3 

Number of passengers 0. 

carried annually 

Allegheny 


105 287 

20.7 

16 543 

6.4 

38 

7 000 

6.5 

78 

I 

912 969 

Baltimore . 


434 439 

23.0 

72 112 

6.0 

- 

- 

2.2 

i 59 

2 

803 303 

Boston 


448 477 

18.5 

52 669 

8.5 

291 

52 000 

2.5 

854 

39 

107 897 

Brooklyn 


806 343 

44.6 

82 282 

9.8 

380 

83 512 

4.2 

474 

3 

297 801 

Buffalo 


255 664 

10.2 

37 290 

6.9 

219 

32 000 

i *3 

126 

I 

929 669 

Chicago 


1 099 850 

10.7 

127 871 

8.6 

525 

i_ 

0.9 

448 

19 

664 911 

Cincinnati 


296 908 

20.0 

33 487 

8.9 

98 

7 447 

0.7 

162 

4 

253 250 

Cleveland 


261 353 

16.4 

43 835 

6.0 

146 

14 000 

1.0 

38 


388 931 

Denver 


106 713 

IO.I 

18 010 

5-9 

61 

i_ 

1.0 

54 


398 780 

Detroit 


205 876 

15.6 

36 992 

5-6 

293 

i_ 

1.2 

i_ 


i_ 

Indianapolis . 


i °5 436 


21 138 

5 -o 

30 

i_ 

0-3 

1. 


135 216 

Jersey City . 


163 003 

19.6 

18 562 

8 8 

57 

21 440 

0.8 

499 


867 514 

Kansas City . 


132 716 

6.4 

23 140 

5-7 

114 

i_ 

0.8 

67 


947 200 

Louisville . 


161 129 

20.4 

24 999 

6-5 

52 

IO OOO 

4.1 

IOO 

I 

250 355 

Milwaukee 


204 468 

18.8 

32 888 

6.2 

183 

17 070 

0.1 

1 _ 


i_ 

Minneapolis . 


164 738 

5 -° 

25 281 

6-5 

60 

21 122 

1.0 

306 

4 

034 572 

Newark 


181 830 

16.0 

23 296 

7.8 

87 

i_ 

i -7 

234 

5 

988 134 

New Orleans. 


242 039 

10.2 

43 000 

5-6 

- 

i_ 

0.7 

4 


224 137 

New York . 


1 515 301 

58.9 

81 828 

18.5 

464 

123 000 

1.6 

1 135 

32 

090 623 

Omaha 


140 452 

9.0 

20 194 

7.0 

73 

3 100 

0.2 

52 


340 770 

Philadelphia . 


1 046 964 

12.6 

187 052 

5-6 

376 

100 000 

i -5 

636 

15 

152 999 

Pittsburgh . 


238 617 

13-8 

37 725 

6.3 

87 

6 748 

3-7 

235 

5 

525 293 

Providence . 


132 146 

14.1 

17 639 

7-5 

64 

5 7 °o 

4*3 

109 


552 466 

Rochester 


133 896 

13-4 

23 954 

5-6 

138 

12 000 

2.1 

20 


237 455 

St Louis 


45 i 77 ° 

11.5 

60 937 

7-4 

328 

28 756 

1.8 

179 

2 

855 688 

St Paul 


133 156 

4.1 

20 976 

6.4 

103 

4 200 

0.5 

152 

2 

622 615 

San Francisco 


298 997 

11.1 

47 183 

6«3 

193 

i_ 

1.2 

369 

6 

350 817 

Washington . 


230 392 

6-3 

38 798 

5-9 

266 

34 000 

1.0 

75 


893 787 


x) Not reported. 

























DAILY CONSUMPTION OF WATER PER CAPITA IN CERTAIN AMERICAN CITIES 1 


APPENDIX V 


IOI 


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i) From table compiled by D. Brackett, C. E. 2) Report of Metropolitan 7 uater boards 1895. p. 158, 159. 


















































102 


PUBLIC HYGIENE IN THE UNITED STATES 


Appendix VI 

DEATH-RATE FROM TYPHOID FEVER IN CERTAIN CITIES OF THE UNITED 
STATES HAVING A POPULATION OF MORE THAN 50,000 IN EACH 1 

(per 100,000 population) , 



1890 

1891 

1892 

1893 

1894 

1895 

1896 

1897 

1898 

Albany . 


60 

108 

5 ° 

59 

52 

165 

_ 

— 

95 

Baltimore 


57 

34 

42 

47 

49 

28 

37 

36 

3 6 

Boston . 


43 

33 

25 

26 

23 

32 

3 i 

33 

35 

Brooklyn 


21 

21 

18 

18 

15 

16 

J 5 

- 

- 

Buffalo . 


44 

56 

38 

37 

62 

28 

19 

18 

28 

Cambridge 


34 

20 

20 

21 

29 

15 

36 

13 

16 

Chicago 


83 

160 

103 

42 

3 i 

32 

47 

26 

36 

Cincinnati 


67 

62 

40 

43 

50 

36 

34 

47 

30 

Cleveland 


66 

5 2 

54 

47 

27. 

36 

4 i 

21 

35 

Columbus 


74 

5 i 

46 

45 

48 

5 i 

- 

- 

- 

Detroit . 


18 

13 

5 i 

61 

26 

24 

19 

12 

18 

Denver . 


217 

93 

53 

57 

35 

30 

61 

- 

- 

Fall River 


62 

65 

38 

20 

29 

33 

27 

33 

21 

Jersey City 


97 

102 

73 

68 

56 

73 

75 

90 

5 i 

Lawrence 


134 

119 

105 

80 

48 

3 i 

26 

25 

16 

Lowell . 


82 

99 

90 

68 

62 

39 

42 

21 

27 

Lynn 


20 

21 

22 

22 

19 

24 

42 

29 

22 

Milwaukee 


33 

33 

3 i 

37 

26 

25 

17 

12 

17 

Minneapolis . 


41 

45 

36 

60 

45 

38 

30 

73 

4 i 

Newark . 


63 

96 

42 

22 

17 

23 

21 

14 

- 

New Bedford . 


20 

21 

34 

62 

26 

20 

24 

37 

26 

New Haven . 


28 

20 

29 

3 i 

26 

34 

32 

24 

37 

New Orleans . 


20 

23 

21 

15 

28 

4 i 

33 

5 ° 

63 

New York 


21 

22 

14 

20 

17 

17 

16 

- 

- 

Omaha . 


36 

20 

13 

14 

25 

12 

- 

— 

- 

Paterson 


29 

21 

18 

40 

37 

21 

47 

32 

- 

Philadelphia . 


64 

64 

34 

4 i 

32 

- 

33 

33 

53 

Pittsburgh 


131 

100 

100 

hi 

56 

77 

63 

66 

73 

Providence 


29 

47 

36 

34 

49 

3 i 

27 

15 

24 

Richmond 


88 

60 

68 

53 

3 i 

27 

- 


- 

Rochester 


33 

36 

52 

39 

12 

24 

16 

19 

— 

San Francisco 


45 

34 

32 

34 

37 

32 

29 

21 

16 

Scranton 


57 

54 

93 

62 

82 

io 5 

- 

- 

- 

St Louis 


34 

30 

37 

103 

3 i 

19 

20 

- 

17 

Somerville 


22 

3 i 

32 

30 

29 

21 

47 

19 

18 

Springfield 


32 

35 

83 

35 

3 i 

19 

21 

27 

26 

Syracuse 


33 

49 

34 

3 i 

45 

- 

- 


— 

Toledo . 


42 

26 

37 

28 

26 

35 

27 

- 

24 

Washington . 


89 

86 

72 

72 

72 

69 

83 

53 

46 

Worcester 


17 

21 

57 

33 

32 

25 

H 

14 

12 


1) Partly from Fuertes’ lVater and public health , p. 47, and reports of state and city boards of 
health and from correspondence. 




















Note on the norjnal chlorine map of Massachusetts 

This map appears among the wing-frames in the Massachusetts portion of the exhibit. 

It was the result of continuous and careful analysis of a large number of samples of 
unpolluted waters of Massachusetts, such as existed in the numerous springs, brooks and 
small streams of the state, at points above all possibility of pollution. By connecting the 
points indicating places where waters were collected for analysis, lines were drawn showing 
that a natural law existed to the effect that the amount of chlorine in the unpolluted waters 
diminished with considerable regularity from the seacoast inward. 

The map has been found very useful as a standard for the purpose of determining the 
actual pollution of any given sample of water, as compared with the normal amount existing 
in the district from which it was obtained. 

A similar map is shown by the state board of health of Connecticut, being the result of 
similar observations in that state, the lines being continuous with those of Massachusetts. 




Department of Social Economy 
for THE 

United States Commission to the Paris Exposition of 1900 


MONOGRAPHS 

ON 

AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


EDITOR 

HERBERT B. ADAMS 

Professor of American History in Johns Hopkins University 


ASSOCIATE EDITOR 

RICHARD WATERMAN JR 


XX 


The Social Relief Work of the Salvation 
Army in the United States 

BY 

COMMANDER BOOTH TUCKER 


This Monograph is contributed to the United States Social Economy Exhibit 
by The League for Social Service, New York 







Copyrighted 1900 
by 

COMMANDER BOOTH TUCKE& 



J. B. LYON COMPANY 
PRINTERS AND BINDERS 
ALBANY, N. Y. 


TABLE OF CONTENTS 


Social Relief Work of the Salvation Army in the 
United States: 

PAGE 

Genesis of the Salvation army. 3 

Social salvation. 6 

The problem of poverty in America... 8 

Shelters for homeless men . io 

Shelters for homeless women. 12 

Homes for artisans. 14 

Homes for working girls. 14 

Children’s homes. .... . 15 

Rescue homes for fallen women. 16 

Slum work. 18 

Slum creche or day nursery. 20 

Cheap food depots and cent meals. 21 

Cheap clothing and second-hand stores. 22 

Salvage brigades for the collection of waste. 23 

Woody ards. 23 

Employment bureau. 24 

Knights of hope, for work among prisoners. 24 

Winter relief. 25 

Medical relief. 26 

Summer outings for the poor. 27 

Penny ice wagons and penny cold drinks 27 

Christmas and Thanksgiving dinners. 28 

Missing friends and inquiry department. 29 

Farm colonies. 29 





























GENERAL WILLIAM BOOTH 
FOUNDER OF THE SALVATION ARMY 



COMMANDER AND CONSUL BOOTH TUCKER, IN CHARGE OF THE SALVATION ARMY WORK 

IN THE UNITED STATES 




















. 








■ 


* 

* X 























- 





































































__ . 












m ■ ;•* 


















- 





































SOCIAL RELIEF WORK OF THE SALVATION 
ARMY IN THE UNITED STATES 


CHAPTER i, 

GENESIS OF THE SALVATION ARMY 

The mudpools of society possess a peculiar interest for the 
sociologist, be he humanitarian or statesman. Hunger 
amounting to positive starvation, destitution that means the 
actual lack of the most common necessaries of existence, misery 
that represents a Niagara of tears, intertangled with a ghastly 
profusion of blasphemy, vermin, vice and crime, constitute a 
dark background to what would indeed be a loathsome picture, 
but for the fact that it is illumined with lightning flashes of 
love, piety and patient endurance, whose existence might least 
be suspected amid such sad surroundings. Here the dividing 
line between earth and hell becomes so hard to locate that 
those who inhabit this sombre shadowland of woe ofttimes feel 
and seem as though they had already passed from the one to 
the other. 

Into this desolate region the Salvation army flung itself, 
nay from its very vortex of misery it may be said to have origi¬ 
nated The international developments and multitudinous 
outgrowths of the movement were represented at its inception 
by two solitary individuals, whom Providence had first linked 
together, and then plunged into the midst of this maelstrom of 
sin and sorrow. Singlehanded, unsupported by material re¬ 
sources of any kind, William and Catherine Booth planted the 
standard of salvation as near the gates of hell as they could 
reach. 

It was in July, 1865, on Mile End Waste, in the east end 
of London, amid vice, degradation and squalor probably with¬ 
out parallel in any corner of the globe, that they commenced 
their work of spiritual and social reform. 

3 



4 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


They adapted their methods to the savage hordes of semi¬ 
barbarians to whom they had consecrated their lives. Their 
first citadels were planted in the heart of sindom and slumdom. 
Over the doorway of one of these was written the strange in¬ 
scription: “ No respectable people admitted.” The sinners 
they were after gloried in their savagery. Their Bible was 
the “ penny dreadful,” their place of worship the saloon, their 
god their unbridled appetites, their prayer hideous blasphemy. 
No church-door was ever darkened with their shadow. They 
were neither expected, nor wanted. The sight of their un¬ 
kempt condition would have driven away the usual worshippers. 

But the dime museums and * penny gaffs,” which these mis¬ 
fits of humanity had been accustomed to frequent, were pressed 
into service by this Prophet of the poor. They were quickly 
crowded to the doors with the rowdy element he sought to 
reach. Amongst the earliest converts were prize-fighters, 
pigeon-flyers, gamblers, drunkards, criminals, many of them 
notorious for their wickedness. 

Each captured gun was turned against the enemy. Each 
prisoner of war was drilled as a recruit His simple testi¬ 
mony became a powerful weapon of offense. Multitudes 
who would not cross the road to hear a preacher, crowded to 
hear the broken sentences of the champion wrestler, or light¬ 
weight boxer who had been their hero. Here they could 
listen to the simple vernacular to which they were themselves 
accustomed. The very breakdowns of the speakers were more 
interesting than the polished flights of the most eloquent orator. 
Their arguments were resistless. What they recommended 
they possessed. What they had gained was surely within each 
listener’s reach, since their circumstances and surroundings 
were the same. 

The powerful influence of woman’s ministry was also intro¬ 
duced, and helped to sway the savage throng. Riots were 
quelled and bloodshed prevented by those fearless, calm-eycd 
women, often mere girls, who dared to cast themselves into 
this lion’s den of humanity. 



NATIONAL HEADQUARTERS FOR AMERICA, 120-124 WEST 14TH ST., NEW YORK 













■ I;' ‘ 





































SOCIAL RELIEF WORK OF SALVATION ARMY IN U. S. 5 

Even the music and singing were revolutionized for the 
purposes of this modern crusade. The popular tap-room melo¬ 
dies of the day were fitted to suitable words, so simple that a 
child could understand,— often mere doggerel, it was true, 
and not always either rhythmical or grammatical. If they 
conveyed their meaning, that was the great point. Would 
the tune “ go? ” If not, however beautiful it might be, it was 
ruthlessly discarded as unsuited for the great end in view. 

Military methods and titles were not added till the year 
1879. They undoubtedly served to lend speed and strength 
to the movement 

The work was commenced on purely spiritual lines. The 
founder, William Booth, had already attained national fame 
as a revivalist Not a little of his inspiration had been drawn 
from the two great American evangelists, Caughey and 
Finney. The passionate fervor of the one, the logical pre¬ 
cision of the other, may be traced in much of the army teach¬ 
ings and operations. Indeed it may be said that America was 
represented at the very cradle of the Salvation army. 

It is not to be wondered therefore that the Salvation army 
had scarcely become firmly established in England, when its 
operations were extended to America. One of its early con¬ 
verts settled in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1872, and immediately 
commenced work. After his departure nothing further was 
done till 1880, when another convert settled in Philadelphia. 
In the following year, in answer to an urgent appeal, rein¬ 
forcements were dispatched under Commissioner George S. 
Railton, and from that moment the work went forward apace. 

The present operations of the Salvation army in the United 
States embrace the following particulars: 

Seven hundred corps and outposts; 2600 officers and em¬ 
ployees; 160 social relief institutions for the poor; 450 
officers and employees in charge of same; 7000 accommoda¬ 
tion provided by social institutions; 11,000 open-air and 


6 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


indoor meetings held weekly; 2,200,000 average number of 
persons attending meetings weekly; 20,000 unpaid workers 
mostly wearing uniform; 50,000 average number of yearly con¬ 
versions; 52 shelters for men and women; 5000 accommoda¬ 
tion in same; 23 cheap food depots; 19 salvage brigades and 
workshops for the unemployed; 222 accommodation in same; 
51 officers and employees in charge; 17 trades and industries; 
8 labor bureaus; 3 farm colonies; 1800 acres of land; 200 col¬ 
onists, including men, women and children; 20 slum posts; 41 
slum officers; 14 rescue homes for fallen women; 360 accom¬ 
modation in same; 1000 girls permanently or temporarily 
helped; 2 children’s homes for waifs and strays; 66 accom¬ 
modation in same. 

CHAPTER 2 

SOCIAL SALVATION 

As its name signifies, the Salvation army was originally 
started with the sole aim of reaching the non-church-going 
masses with the Gospel. Here was the appalling statement 
made by those who had given the matter years of patient 
study, that 90# of the working classes in the older civiliza¬ 
tions of Europe habitually neglected public worship and had 
practically cut themselves loose from even the outward pro¬ 
fession of religion. It was to remedy this condition of affairs 
that William and Catherine Booth set to work. 

As evangelists they could crowd the largest buildings with 
the vast crowds who flocked to their meetings. Their con¬ 
verts were numbered by thousands. Yet they could not fail 
to notice and mourn over the fact that those who came were 
mostly church-goers and professors of religion. The godless 
multitudes drifted past their doors. To reach them, other 
methods must be pursued. Their habits must be studied and 
they must be followed to their haunts and hiding-places. 

When, however, this had been done, it became daily more 
and more evident that the evils to be combatted were of a 



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SOCIAL RELIEF WORK OF SALVATION ARMY IN U. S. 7 

temporal as well as of a spiritual character. Churchlessness 
was with these classes the natural outcome of homelessness, 
worklessness and worthlessness. To combat the evil, its 
causes must be radically dealt with. The task was truly a 
gigantic one. But General Booth was not the man to shrink 
from it. Cautiously and experimentally at first, and finally 
with the confidence that was the natural outcome of repeated 
success, he grappled with the problem. 

In traversing and transforming these melancholy wastes of 
woe, root principles were discovered and laid down for the 
guidance of the legion of well-trained workers who had been 
rapidly enrolled. 

The poor were to be treated with love, and not with sus¬ 
picion or contempt. 

They were to be classified, not as the worthy and unworthy, 
but as those who were willing to work out their own regenera¬ 
tion, and the unwilling. 

They were to be encouraged in every possible way to be¬ 
come their own deliverers. 

Each institution was to aim at self-support by the labor or 
payments of its inmates. 

Social reform to be complete must include the soul as well 
as the body. In other words the man himself must be 
changed and not merely his circumstances. 

To save a man for this world should be but a stepping-stone 
toward saving him for the next. 

Finally, in the fall of 1890, the outcome of the previous year’s 
experiments was tabulated and published by General Booth 
in a book which quickly received world-wide recognition. 
The publication of In darkest England and the way out 
undoubtedly marked a new era in the history of sociology. 
The problems which were discussed in those pages with mas¬ 
terly ability were quickly recognized as belonging to the world 
rather than to any single country, and the remedies suggested 
commended themselves to the ablest students of the question. 


8 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


In England a fund of $600,000 was subscribed in the course 
of a few days to enable General Booth to put his plans into 
operation on a larger scale. That the confidence thus mani¬ 
fested toward him was not misplaced has been universally 
acknowledged and is proven by the following statistics, show¬ 
ing the vast scale upon which those operations are now being 
conducted throughout the world. The figures given are for 
the 12 months ending June 30, 1899. It would be safe to add 
at least 20$ to these figures on account of recently opened in¬ 
stitutions for which returns were not complete: 

One hundred and fifty-eight food depots and shelters for 
men and women; 13,533 sleeping accommodation in same; 
3,697,860 beds supplied during year; 5,968,365 meals supplied 
during year; 60 workshops and salvage brigades for tempo¬ 
rary employment of out-of-works; 48,512 persons supplied with 
work in same; 37 labor bureaus; 6367 persons found situa¬ 
tions; 17 children’s homes and day nurseries; 23,245 children 
sheltered; 11 farm colonies; 5562 acres of land occupied; 450 
colonists, including men, women and children; 121 slum posts; 
464,113 hours spent in slum visitation; 11 homes for ex¬ 
criminals; 382 accommodation in same; 1626 ex-criminals 
passed through during year; 1393 satisfactory cases; 91 res¬ 
cue homes for fallen women; 1894 accommodation in same; 
5132 girls passed through during year; 3449 satisfactory 
cases; 1604 missing persons found during year; 39 other social 
institutions; 545 total social institutions; 2062 officers and 
employees in charge of same, 

CHAPTER 3 

THE PROBLEM OF POVERTY IN AMERICA 

Pauperdom has undoubtedly not attained the same propor¬ 
tions in America as in the older civilizations of Europe. Prob¬ 
ably the percentage in the former is not more than five, 
whereas in the latter it is estimated at 10. 


SOCIAL RELIEF WORK OF SALVATION ARMY IN U. S. 9 

The census of 1890 shows that the inmates of public and 
private institutions for paupers and criminals numbered no 
less than 340,000, while at least 10 times that number pass 
through these institutions during the year. It is fair, there¬ 
fore, to estimate the numbers of those who live on the borders 
of pauperdom in the United States at not less than 3,000,000 
souls. 

This estimate is confirmed by the fact that during the ex¬ 
ceptionally prosperous conditions now existing the returns of 
the various labor unions in the state of New York show that 
10# of their members are out of work. For the previous 
quarter the average was 18$, and in ordinary seasons, apart 
from any unusual depression, the percentage is considerably 
higher. 

It is fair to suppose that the condition of the wage-earners 
who are members of unions is an index of the condition of 
nonunion labor, the probability being that there is a larger 
proportion of out-of-works among the latter than the former. 

From the above facts it may be regarded as certain that 
the “ submerged” classes in America, including the criminal, 
the vicious and the purely pauper elements, number not less 
than 3,000,000 under favorable sociological circumstances, 
while the number is liable to increase alarmingly during 
seasons of commercial depression. 

For dealing with this mass of poverty and suffering the 
Salvation army in the United States has organized the various 
institutions and agencies described in the following pages. 
These include: 

Shelters for homeless men; shelters for homeless women; 
homes for clerks and artisans; homes for girls working in stores 
and offices; homes for children; rescue homes for fallen women; 
slum posts for slum visitation and meetings; slum day nur¬ 
series for infants; cheap food depots and cent-meals; cheap 
clothing and second-hand stores; salvage brigades for collec¬ 
tion of household and office waste; woodyards; employment 


10 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


bureaus; Knights of hope for prison visitation and ex-crimi¬ 
nals; winter relief; medical relief, including free hospital and 
dispensaries; summer outings for the poor; penny ice wagons; 
Christmas and Thanksgiving dinners; missing friends and in¬ 
quiry department; farm colonies for the poor. 

The complex character of the remedies above indicated has 
been necessitated by the complex nature of the evil to be 
dealt with. To the uninitiated eye poverty appears to be one 
seething cauldron of dirt, rags, hunger, hypocrisy and misery. 
To the skilled eye of our officers, who devote their lives to 
the practical task of combatting the evil, the poor may be 
divided into classes which are as sharply defined and unmixable 
as the castes of the Hindoos, or the stratas of geology. To 
deal successfully with the monster of poverty, each of its hydra 
heads must be separately handled, with methods peculiar to 
itself and with a staff of workers who are trained to become 
experts in their own particular department, whilst the sun¬ 
shine of love and the tender showers of Gospel grace are made 
to permeate the mass. 


CHAPTER 4, 

SHELTERS FOR HOMELESS MEN 

Every large city in America has its quota of homeless men. 
Their home, if such it can be called, is the low lodging-house. 
As a rule the accommodation is of the meanest character. 
The rooms and bedding abound with vermin, making sleep 
well-nigh impossible. 

Let me describe a night spent in one of these dens in New 
York. The building was a tall brick structure, with accom¬ 
modation for perhaps 300 men. As I passed across a kind 
of gangway, my guide, who was one of our slum soldiers, in¬ 
formed me that more than one murder had been committed 
on that dark spot, the victims being flung into a sort of cellar 
below. We were directed to a large room, the only furniture 


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SOCIAL RELIEF WORK OF SALVATION ARMY IN U. S. II 


of which consisted of a large stove and about 50 canvas 
hammocks, slung in double-decker fashion from a couple of 
bars that ran the length of the room. All the lower ham¬ 
mocks being occupied, I had to content myself with an upper. 
It was a bitterly cold night, but the fire was out, and there 
was no bedding. The cold alone made sleep impossible. The 
one rough article of clothing which I took off formed my 
pillow. Beneath it I placed my shoes, which would otherwise 
probably have been missing by daylight. The hacking coughs 
of many of the men showed that hardship and exposure were 
rapidly doing their work. In spite of the vermin, the cold 
and the noises I dozed off for a few moments. Whether I 
dreamed or snored I can not say, but I woke up in time to 
hear the man w 7 ho was sleeping under me say to another who 
was wandering about the room, perhaps seeing what he could 
pick up, “There’s a bum in that doss!” “Stick a pin into 
him!” responded the other. “Go and fetch the boss,” re¬ 
marked some one else. The speakers evidently had no idea 
that the “ bum ” in the “ doss ” was the commander of the 
Salvation army, personally investigating the condition of the 
working classes, and the sort of accommodation afforded them 
in an average lodging-house in New York! 

Since that day we have opened in and around New York 
six workingmen’s shelters, accommodating 736 homeless men. 
An iron spring bed with mattrass, pillow, sheets and blankets 
can be obtained for 10 cents, while those who prefer a room 
to themselves can obtain one for an additional nickel. Each 
dormitory is warmed with a stove, while hot and cold baths, 
wash-tubs and a reading-room are provided free of charge. 
The officer in command takes a kindly interest in the men, 
gets to know each of them individually and helps to find them 
employment when out of work. 

Similar institutions have been provided in the following 
cities: Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Toledo, 
Pittsburg, Providence, Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Fall 


12 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


River, Waterbury, Cincinnati, Louisville, Nashville, St Louis, 
Springfield, Ill., Little Rock, Kansas City, Denver, Cripple 
Creek, Salt Lake City, Portland, Ore., and San Francisco. In 
some of the largest of these cities from two to five shelters 
have been opened, and there appears no end to the possibilities 
of developing this class of work. 

To remove these men from the contaminating surroundings 
of the moral cesspools which they are otherwise compelled to 
frequent, and to encircle them with healthy, holy influences, 
is a work the importance of which it is impossible to exag¬ 
gerate. We have now 45 shelters for homeless men in the 
United States, with accommodation for 5000 persons. 

CHAPTER 5 

SHELTERS FOR HOMELESS WOMEN 

Happily the number of homeless women is far less than that 
of homeless men. Nevertheless most large cities possess 
a considerable and alas increasing class of those whose rela¬ 
tions have died, or deserted them, and who pick up a scanty 
subsistence by charring, cleaning offices and doing odd jobs, 
or selling cheap wares in the streets. They are less migratory 
than the men, and soon make our shelters their permanent 
“ home.” 

Some of them have been addicted to liquor. “ We can 
always get a drink for nothing from some friendly saloon¬ 
keeper by doing some odd job for him, such as cleaning the 
windows, when we can not get either money or food,” said one 
of these women apologetically to the shelter officer, who had 
charged her with drinking. “ It stops the cravings of hun¬ 
ger,” she added. 

The warmth, the light, the cleanliness of our shelters, and 
above all the kindness with which they are treated, serve to 
work a speedy reformation. “ Some of them,” said a shelter 
officer, “ exhibit symptoms of hydrophobia at the very sight 



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SOCIAL RELIEF WORK OF SALVATION ARMY IN U. S. 13 


of water, when they first come to us. But they soon get to 
appreciate the value of cleanliness, and many of them give 
their hearts to God. Saddest of all is, when we have to turn 
some away, because every bed is occupied. Oh how they 
plead with us just to let them sleep on the floor, or in the 
passages.” 

Our New York shelter was commenced in a building just 
off Chatham Square. Our license allowed only 44 beds. 
These were soon regularly occupied, and we took a larger 
building in the heart of the Bowery, with accommodation for 
100. During the summer months the attendance has steadily 
increased so that the beds are now all occupied, and numbers 
have to be turned away. A second building has already be¬ 
come necessary. 

In Chicago and San Francisco similar shelters have been 
opened, although on a smaller scale, with similar results. 

Perhaps no sight is sadder than that of these homeless and 
friendless women, struggling bravely to earn the pittance which 
shall enable them to keep out of the dreaded poorhouse. The 
census states that 74,521 of the women in the national public 
and private institutions for the poor assign as the cause of 
their dependence the “ want of another home,” while 94$ 
of them are stated to be “ able-bodied,” capable, that is, 
of some moderate amount of work. In the majority of 
cases they are not even to be blamed for their condition. 
The death of the bread-winner, abandonment, or misfortune 
have, in most cases, brought them to the border land of desti¬ 
tution. And yet they struggle bravely on, glad and thank¬ 
ful if they can only be independent of society’s aid, with no 
hope of the honored rest their silvered hair and stoop of age 
might claim. 

Tenderly our officers minister to their spiritual, as well as 
temporal needs, and the joy of a future home and rest 
for their soul palliates the toil and loneliness of their present lot. 


14 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


CHAPTER 6 

HOMES FOR ARTISANS 

In several cities homes have been opened, where clerks, 
storesmen and others of the artisan classes can get accommo¬ 
dation a little superior to that provided in our ordinary shel¬ 
ters, and yet for a very small outlay. This has been greatly 
appreciated, and has helped to constitute a step upwards for 
many of those whom our cheaper institutions have rescued 
from the lowest depths of suffering, besides acting as a valu¬ 
able prevention for numbers who were in danger of lapsing 
into the same condition. 

In many of our large shelters a separate floor with superior 
accommodation at a slightly increased charge is set apart for 
this purpose, thus avoiding the expense of renting an extra 
building and requiring an additional staff. 

It is found preferable, however, where there is a sufficient 
demand, to have an entirely separate building. This has al¬ 
ready been done, with excellent effect in Boston and Kansas 
City. 

These moral safeguards from the pernicious influences 
which drag down so many of our young men may well be 
multiplied. 

CHAPTER 7 

HOMES FOR WORKING GIRLS 

In all the large cities of the United States thousands of 
young women are employed in the stores and offices. While 
many of those have happily homes of their own, a vast pro¬ 
portion are obliged to board out. The inducements to vice 
are terrible. To pay for rent and food out of the $4 to $6 
a week which their wages average, besides dressing with the 
neatness which their employers demand, is well-nigh impos¬ 
sible. To starve or sell their virtue becomes the painful alter¬ 
native. At least the gateway of vice is dangerously near and 





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SOCIAL RELIEF WORK OF SALVATION ARMY IN U. S. 15 

wide open to those young and inexperienced feet. To help 
them after they have fallen is good,— to prevent their fall is 
infinitely better. 

A painful story is told of a young girl in one of our cities 
applying vainly for admission at the door of the various insti¬ 
tutions. She could not be received because she had not fallen. 
Driven to despair, she returned soon afterwards saying, “ Now 
I have done what you wanted. Now I am truly fallen and I 
have a right to claim admission.” 

There can be no doubt that cheap homes for respectable 
young women are daily becoming a greater necessity in our 
cities. We have already established several such. 

Our home in Boston has been named after the late Wash¬ 
ington Benedict, who was deeply interested in the estab¬ 
lishment of such an institution. Our Flower home in Los 
Angeles was presented to the Salvation army by the ladies’ 
committee, who had been managing it for several years. The 
property is valued at $20,000, and is beautifully situated in the 
center of the city. The officer in charge holds a medical 
diploma. 

CHAPTER 8 
children’s homes 

“ Damned into the world rather than born into it,” some one 
has said, are the children of our slums. The tenements of 
our great cities swarm with those who answer to this pitiful 
description. Cradled from their infancy in disease, misery, 
vice and crime, little wonder that many of them grow up to be 
the terrors of the society that has so often neglected them. 

Often the only fault of the parents is their poverty. “ It 
is only that I am hungry, but mother says I must not 
tell! ” said a little boy, who had fainted away in one of our 
meetings. And then the sad story leaked out. His father, 
an honest working man, had been out of employment for 
weeks. In vain had he walked the streets day after day in 
search of work. For some time the mother had painfully bat- 


i6 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


tied with the wolf at the door by means of needle-work. 
Finally she had broken down beneath the strain. She was 
ill in bed, and the seven children were literally starving. There 
was no food in the attic which served as home. Help was 
quickly sent, the father was found work, and before long the 
whole family was comfortably established in a little home. It 
was a cold Christmas and the snow was on the ground. Little 
Freddy ran to the window, threw it open and flung out a 
handful of crumbs for the birds. “ See, mama,” he cried glee¬ 
fully, last Christmas we had no crumbs for ourselves. This 
Christmas we have plenty for the birds as well.” 

Our New York and San Francisco homes for orphans and 
destitute children accommodate about 60 such, and every 
available bed is occupied, while we are reluctantly compelled 
to refuse many a little needy lamb, it being impossible to 
make this branch of our operations self-supporting, as we are 
able to do with most of the others. 

It is intended at an early date to establish a branch home 
on one of our farm colonies, with a special view to teaching 
the children agricultural pursuits and finally planting them 
out in homes of their own. This seems preferable to the ex¬ 
isting plan of placing them out in the families of farmers, as 
under our system they will become homeowners and not 
merely farm laborers. 

CHAPTER 9 

RESCUE HOMES FOR FALLEN WOMEN 

It is estimated that in the United States alone no less than 
50,000 girls annually pass from the ranks of the fallen to a 
premature grave. Their places, alas, are quickly taken by 
others, so that there is no apparent diminution in the volume 
of vice which pours its Niagara of woe through our streets and 
homes. 

More sinned against than sinning, the doors of society are 
closed tightly against these human derelicts, the wreckage and 
wreckers of our homes and youth. 



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SOCIAL RELIEF WORK OF SALVATION ARMY IN U. S. 17 

To deal with them successfully it has been found necessary to 
organize an entirely different set of institutions, or rather 
homes, under the supervision of a staff of officers who are 
trained wholly and solely for this class of work, and who thus 
acquire an experience and achieve a success which would not 
otherwise be possible. 

Fourteen homes with accommodation for 360 girls have 
been established in the following cities of the United States: 
New York, Boston, Chicago, St Louis, Philadelphia, Cleve¬ 
land, Buffalo, Grand Rapids, St Paul, Omaha, Des Moines, 
Portland, Los Angeles and San Francisco. 

Including preventive cases and those who have only stayed 
a few days, about 1000 girls have passed through these homes 
during the past year. The percentage of satisfactory cases is 
more than 80#. 

We aim at keeping the girls about four months in the 
home. They help to meet their expenses by various kinds of 
needle-work, such as the making of texts, uniforms and gar¬ 
ments, as well as by bookbinding, chicken-raising and other 
occupations. The majority of them are trained for housework 
and sent out to suitable situations. The value of work done 
in the homes during the last 12 months amounted to nearly 
$3000. 

At the time of writing, 60 babies are being cared for in 
the homes, indeed the maternity department of this work is 
assuming increasing importance. 

A volume could easily be filled with the sad stories of be¬ 
trayal, of cruelty and crime, which are poured into the ears of 
our officers by these unhappy victims of vice. But a single 
instance must suffice. 

It was a cold miserable evening in winter. A woman stood 
on the banks of the Mississippi, her babe wrapped in her arms. 
She had made up her mind to bury her sorrows in the waters 
of the river. Home and friends had closed their doors against 
her. The one for whose sake she had risked all had deserted 


2 


l8 AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 

her. Death itself seemed preferable to such an existence as 
had fallen to her lot. 

Just then a drum-beat, followed by music and singing, fell 
upon her ear. It was the nightly march and open-air of the 
Salvation army. Nearer and nearer they drew. Not far 
from the spot where the would-be suicide was standing they 
halted, formed a ring and commenced their service. The quick 
eye of the girl-captain read the despair that was imprinted on 
that fair young face. A few kind words of sympathy drew her 
to the hall, and before the meeting closed, the story of sorrow 
and shame had been whispered into the captain’s ear, and sal¬ 
vation sought at the cross. 

One of our rescue homes quickly opened its doors to receive 
the Magdalene and her babe, and then in due course a posi¬ 
tion of usefulness was found, with an opportunity to start the 
voyage of life under new and happier auspices. Some years 
later the incident was related in a public meeting. A well- 
dressed woman rose and asked permission to speak. n The 
story you have heard is all true,” she said. “ I am the woman 
referred to. I have now a happy home and a good husband, 
and can not express my gratitude to the army for having saved 
me from a suicide’s grave and brought me to a knowledge of 
salvation.” 

CHAPTER io 

SLUM WORK 

Who has not heard of “ Hell’s Kitchen,” “ The Bowery,” 
“ The Tenderloin,” or “ Cherry street? ” The very names 
have become world-famous, as synonyms for debauchery, 
slumdom and crime. In the very heart of these citadels of 
sin the Salvation army has planted its outposts. The girl- 
warriors who have dared to storm these “ forts of darkness ” 
have done so in the first instance at the risk of their lives. 
Pelted with refuse, treated with ignominy, threatened with 
violence, they have persisted in their noble work, till a per¬ 
manent footing has been gained. 


SOCIAL RELIEF WORK OF SALVATION ARMY IN U. S. 19 

Now, how different is their position. They are known by 
the name of “ slum angels.” At any hour of the day or night 
they can walk down streets or alleys where the police will only 
pass in twos. If a fight is going on, they will make straight 
for the center of the crowd, as the recognized peacemakers 
of the poor, and woe betide the man who lays a finger 
upon them. The worst dives and saloons are open to their 
ministrations. 

“ There are only two saloons,” says the officer in charge of 
our Chicago slumwork, 44 where our girls are not admitted, and 
these two are visited by them regularly every week. When 
the boss says, 4 Did I not tell you not to come here any more? ’ 
the captain replies, 4 Yes, sir! But I have come to see whether 
you have changed your mind! ’ ” 

In the city of Cleveland one of the most notorious saloon¬ 
keepers and criminals was converted and has stood faithful 
for some years past. When his saloon was first visited by 
our women officers, he poured a schooner of beer down their 
backs as they knelt to pray! This man was popularly known 
as “ The Ferret.” His picture hangs in the Rogues’ gallery 
of the United States, but the face has been turned to the wall, 
since the police are well aware that Fred Ford is converted 
and is earning an honest living. 

Our slum officers live in the heart of slumdom, and minister 
day and night to the sick and suffering. In order to make 
themselves more one with the people they have adopted an 
even simpler and humbler garb than that worn by our ordinary 
officers. A poke bonnet would appear too respectable, and 
even extravagant, to those whose lives are spent in one long 
desperate struggle with poverty. 

In New York alone we have 20 slum officers entirely set 
apart for work of this character, while other slum posts have 
been opened in Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, Providence, 
Cincinnati, Cleveland and St Louis. 

Not the least important feature of the slum officer’s work 


20 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


is her nightly meeting. Gathered together in her hall is an 
intensely interesting collection of the toughest characters in 
the city. With wonderful skill and patience she handles them. 
Strange to say, although the meetings are of a strictly religious 
character, they possess for these wastrels of society a peculiar 
fascination. The greatest punishment that can be inflicted for 
a serious breach of discipline is exclusion from the meetings 
for a time. To see the girl captain march off a disturber of 
the peace, maintain order and go on with the meeting, as if 
nothing particular had happened, is in itself a marvel of spir¬ 
itual conquest and control. 

These Jeanne d’Arcs of the slums are filled with a sense of 
their divine mission and are accepted by their rough hearers as 
the modern apostles of “ Eoverty Row.” 

CHAPTER ii 

SLUM CRECHE OR DAY NURSERY 

It was found by our slum officers in the course of their visi¬ 
tations that in many families where the mother was the bread¬ 
winner, she would go forth in the morning, locking the door 
on her babe, till she returned home in the evening. What 
else could she do? It was impossible for her to take baby 
with her to her work. 

Hence a slum creche soon became a necessary adjunct to 
this portion of our work. The mother brings her baby in the 
morning, leaves it for the day, and fetches it away in the even¬ 
ing. Wonderful reformations have thus been wrought in the 
way of cleanliness and health, as well as moral surroundings. 

The little ones learn to sing the army songs and carry back 
to their miserable garrets an atmosphere of joy and brightness 
which has hitherto been unknown. A small charge of five 
cents is made to cover the cost of milk and food. 

Occasionally the mother, who called in the morning, appears 
no more to claim the child, and then it becomes necessary to 
find some permanent home. But kind friends seldom fail to 
return a ready response to our appeal. 


SOCIAL RELIEF WORK OF SALVATION ARMY IN U. S. 21 


CHAPTER 12 

CHEAP FOOD DEPOTS AND CENT MEALS 

The provision of cheap, wholesome food for the poor at 
.prices within their reach has become one of the most import¬ 
ant branches of our work. In a single month 110,584 meals 
were furnished, being at the rate of more than 1,300,000 per 
year. 

In some cases " cent meals ” have been established with a 
special view of reaching the poor in their homes. For one 
cent a pint of coffee with a chunk of bread, or if preferred, a 
basin of soup, will be furnished This can either be taken 
home or eaten on the premises. 

Thus help and hope are brought to the doors of many who 
are too proud to make their wants known even to their dearest 
friends. It is by such that the pinch of poverty is the most 
severely felt, and it is they who are the most deserving of help, 
being so eager to do all in their power to help themselves. 

It is sad to admit that with our advanced civilization mul¬ 
titudes should suffer from the actual gnawings of hunger, and 
yet such is undoubtedly the case. An old woman was 
found ill in her garret. For days she had not tasted food. 
She had struggled bravely on, supporting herself and her 
granddaughter, till sickness had laid her aside. Yet there 
was no spirit of complaint. Grateful for the help that had 
been brought, she explained to the officer who was caring for 
her that she had discovered a splendid remedy for the pangs 
of hunger when she had no food, and that was to drink hot 
water with a pinch of salt. “Have you ever tried it?” she 
asked. “You will find it wonderful for taking away the 
craving.” 

Not long ago it was stated by the teachers of the New York 
public schools that the children frequently came breakfastless 
to their lessons and that the only luncheon many of them 
brought was a paltry sandwich, consisting of two thin slices of 


22 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


bread, with some vegetable or cheese sliced between. And 
yet, so sensitive were the children about accepting anything 
that savored of “ charity,” that they would refuse food when 
it was proffered to them free of charge. It was only by in¬ 
viting one and another to share their meal as a special treat, 
that the teacher could prevail on them to accept anything be¬ 
yond the scanty meal they brought. 

CHAPTER 13 

CHEAP CLOTHING AND SECOND-HAND STORES 

Next to the need for food and shelter comes that for 
clothing during our inclement winter. To provide for this, 
“ junk shops ” have been opened in some of our large cities, 
where second-hand articles of clothing can be bought by the 
poor for nominal sums. Our store in Chicago employs seven 
persons. Shoes are repaired, articles of clothing mended and 
furniture renewed, and then sold at prices which bring them 
within reach of all. 

During the terrible blizzard of 1899 when trains were 
blocked and traffic obstructed the suffering among the poor 
was most acute. A woman came to our headquarters 
through the snow which was piled several feet high in the 
streets. A babe was in her arms, but a few weeks old, wrapped 
in a piece of China cloth. Her own garments were scarcely 
better. She was gladly supplied with what she needed. “ Do 
not think me ungrateful,” she said, when rising to leave, “if 
I ask you to find me one thing more. Could you let me have 
a pair of old shoes? ” It was then that the fact was discov¬ 
ered that she had nothing but a little brown paper which she 
had placed between her stockings and the soles of her shoeless 
feet to protect her during that terrible tramp through the 
snow. Her gratitude was unbounded when this need also had 
been met. 


SOCIAL RELIEF WORK OF SALVATION ARMY IN U. S. 23 


CHAPTER 14 

SALVAGE BRIGADES FOR THE COLLECTION OF WASTE 

The urgent necessity of finding temporary employment for 
the out-of-works led to the conception of the collection of 
household and office waste. The fact that those who needed 
help came from so many different trades, and that it would 
have required a vast amount of capital to employ each in 
what he might happen to know, made it necessary to look out 
for plans which would be suitable for all sorts of labor, whether 
skilled or unskilled. 

To collect and sell waste paper, clothing, shoes, old furry 
ture, packing cases, bottles and articles of a similar charactci 
has been found to supply a maximum of work at a minimum 
of cost. The income from the sale of such goods has been 
usually sufficient to almost cover working expenses, the chief 
difficulty being to obtain the capital necessary to purchase 
teams, and fit up suitable buildings. 

The most extensive and successful salvage brigade hitherto 
established is in the city of Chicago, where we have taken a 
contract for keeping the streets in several wards free from 
waste paper. Some 25 tons of waste paper are weekly 
handled by the brigade. 

In the city of Boston 500 baskets have been placed in the 
houses of citizens. These are periodically cleared, and the 
contents disposed of through our junk store. 

Salvage brigades have also been established in Brooklyn, 
Jersey City and Newark. 

CHAPTER 15, 

WOODYARDS 

In some cities woodyards have been started for the tempo¬ 
rary employment of out-of-works. The necessity of finding 
capital for the purchase of lumber, and the difficulty of com¬ 
peting with machine-cut wood, has prevented us from extending 


24 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


this class of work on the scale that we should desire. It is, 
however, one of the best and simplest plans for utilizing waste 
labor during periods of temporay depression. 

Our principal woodyards are in Waterbury, Boston, Hous¬ 
ton, San Francisco and Seattle. 

CHAPTER 16 

EMPLOYMENT BUREAU 

The lamentable fact that employment agencies have been so 
largely used by unprincipled persons for decoying the poor 
and fleecing them of their money, makes it the more im¬ 
portant that strictly honest agencies should be multiplied 
for bringing together the employer and employed. At the 
same time the severely repressive enactments and high license 
fees which have been established in most states as a check to 
malpractices, have prevented us from advancing as rapidly 
as we could have desired. 

Nevertheless in the last month for which our statistical par¬ 
ticulars are available, we succeeded in finding work for no 
less than 4797 persons, being at the rate of nearly 60,000 per 
annum. 

CHAPTER 17 

KNIGHTS OF HOPE, FOR WORK AMONG PRISONERS 

In many of the prisons throughout the country we are per¬ 
mitted to conduct regular services. In some of them we have 
been allowed to enroll the converts as Salvationists. The 
officials speak highly in regard to the good conduct of these 
men, and in times of emergency they have been known to 
render excellent service. 

In one case a notorious murderer was converted, and was 
permitted to conduct a Bible-class among some eight men 
who were being tried or had been sentenced for a similar 
offense. This resulted in the conversion of several of the 
others. 

But it has been the ex-criminal who has been the special 
object of our solicitude. When his sentence has expired his 


SOCIAL RELIEF WORK OF SALVATION ARMY IN U. S. 25 

position is indeed painful. It is only natural that employers 
should be very unwilling to offer him work. But should he 
succeed in finding a place, he will commonly be blackmailed 
by his old associates and compelled to pay them nearly all 
his earnings, under threat of losing his position by his em¬ 
ployer being informed about the past. In some cities ft is 
the police themselves who embitter the life of the ex-criminal 
by a systematic persecution which often drives him to despair. 

For hundreds of these men we have found temporary em¬ 
ployment in our own establishments until we could safely 
recommend them to employers of labor, after satisfying our¬ 
selves of the genuineness of their reformation. In this way 
and with our guarantee they have been safe from the attacks of 
the blackmailer. 

CHAPTER 18 

WINTER RELIEF 

The severe character of the winter in our northern states 
makes the provision of special winter relief a matter of urgent 
necessity. 

“ We prayed for the snow and eagerly watched the passing 
clouds,” said one of the sufferers, now an officer in our ranks, 
“ because then we knew there would be a chance of earning a 
dollar a day for sweeping it away.” 

It was stated not long ago that when 6000 shovels were 
given out by the city of New York for clearing the snow, there 
were 10 men fighting for each shovel. It seems hardly cred¬ 
ible to think that 60,000 men, mostly with families dependent 
on them, should struggle fiercely for the privilege of standing 
in the bitter cold for 10 or 12 hours, with but little under¬ 
clothing, and most of them without proper overcoats. And 
yet such was the case. 

Regularly organized winter relief has been carried on by the 
Salvation army, and this on a vast scale. In the city of 
Detroit during a severe winter, when poverty and suffering 
were intense, our officers were used by the authorities and citi- 


26 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


zens for the distribution of food and clothing to the value of 
$200,000 an exact list being kept of the 7000 families assisted 
and of the articles supplied. 

During the severe blizzard of 1899, when traffic was par¬ 
alyzed, and in many cases a coal famine prevailed, the doors 
of our halls were thrown open throughout the country, and 
those who could not obtain warmth and food in their tene¬ 
ments were cared for by thousands, the police and city au¬ 
thorities cooperating heartily with us in our efforts. Indeed 
so terrible was the distress that the police stations and ar¬ 
mories were officially thrown open in New York and instruc¬ 
tions issued by the state and city authorities to supply food 
and shelter to all who might appear to be in need. It was 
then that one of the finest compliments was paid to the Sal¬ 
vation army by the poor of the city. Our halls and institu¬ 
tions were crowded to the doors, while but few availed them¬ 
selves of the proffered hospitality of the state. Our large hall 
and headquarters in 14th street accommodated nightly about 
1000 persons, while from the regimental armory across the 
street we received a polite request to supply coffee and bread 
for 16 persons who had applied for help. 

Fearing that the police stations might be as crowded as our 
halls, and that it might be necessary to engage and fit up some 
empty stores, we telephoned to the police headquarters to in¬ 
quire what was the condition of affairs. “ We have plenty of 
room,” was the reply. “ All the people have gone to Booth 
Tucker’s show.” We were, indeed, grateful to learn that in 
their hour of need they should thus openly manifest their con¬ 
fidence and take advantage of the help we had provided. 

CHAPTER 19 

MEDICAL RELIEF 

In a country which abounds with hospitals and medical re¬ 
lief, it may naturally be supposed that there has been but little 
necessity for us to make any extensive additions to our respon- 


SOCIAL RELIEF WORK OF SALVATION ARMY IN U. S. 27 

sibilities in this direction. We have been glad to avail ourselves 
to the utmost of the generous assistance afforded us by existing 
institutions. 

Nevertheless little by little work of this character has been 
forced upon us. The nursing of the sick in their own homes, 
the caring for maternity cases in the slums and in our rescue 
homes, the ministering to those of our own people who were 
ill, and the fact that we have now in our own ranks a consid¬ 
erable number of those who possess medical experience, have 
led to important expansions in this direction. 

CHAPTER 20 

SUMMER OUTINGS FOR THE POOR 
To the children and women who have no opportunity of 
escaping from the scorching heat of our summers, the luxury 
of an occasional steamer-trip, or outing, can hardly be over¬ 
estimated. In Brooklyn, Philadelphia, Boston, Cleveland, 
Chicago and many other cities arrangements have been made 
for the careful distribution of tickets amongst those who need 
this form of relaxation the most. In many cases the street¬ 
car companies have cooperated with us by granting free trans¬ 
portation. 

In Kansas City a summer camp has been established in one 
of the principal parks. Here tents are pitched and poor fami¬ 
lies have the privilege of spending a week at a time under the 
trees. Sick children at the point of death have been restored 
to life and health in an incredibly short space of time, to the 
joy of their parents. 

CHAPTER 21 

PENNY ICE WAGONS AND PENNY COLD DRINKS 
Penny ice wagons and penny cold drinks have constituted 
another popular form of summer relief. In Kansas City our 
ice wagons pass regularly through the poor quarters, selling 
a large block of ice for a cent. 


28 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


In Boston penny cold drinks have proved extremely popular 
and have helped to counteract the influences of the saloon. 

CHAPTER 22 

CHRISTMAS AND THANKSGIVING DINNERS 

Our almost invariable rule is that whatever we do for a 
poor man must be paid for either in cash or labor. The price 
may be ridiculously low, or the task may Be accomplished in 
an hour, and yet it must be something which he will feel is 
equivalent to the help which he receives. Thus w"e help with¬ 
out pauperizing. 

At the same time we can not but feel that there are times 
when this rule should be relaxed and the poor should be in¬ 
vited to our table “ without money and without price.” The 
two annual occasions wiien this takes place are Thanksgiving 
da}" and Christmas day. On the former occasion w-e com¬ 
monly provide for about 20,000 persons, while on last Christ¬ 
mas day we spread our table for 145,000. In New York alone 
25,000 meals were provided, the vast and well-known Madison 
Square garden being engaged for the occasion. In Chicago, 
Boston, Cleveland, Philadelphia, St Louis and other large 
cities the number averaged from 5000 to 10,000. 

Nor are the poor treated on these occasions as if they w r ere 
paupers. Our officers and soldiers wait upon them personally, 
gladly sacrificing their own family enjoyments for the purpose, 
and treating them with loving heartiness. The tables are 
loaded generously with turkeys and cranberry sauce, with roast 
beef and pies, with fruit and crackers. Those w-ho are pre¬ 
vented by illness and other domestic causes from attending in 
person, receive baskets filled with food in their garret-homes, 
and a link of love is forged between the needy, and the citizens 
of each city, the value of which in troublous times it is difficult 
to overestimate. 



GROUP OF SLUM OFFICERS IN NEW YORK 











SOCIAL RELIEF WORK OF SALVATION ARMY IN U. S. 29 


CHAPTER 23 

MISSING FRIENDS AND INQUIRY DEPARTMENT 

Had America been discovered in his days, the prodigal son 
would surely have gone there! Certainly it is the favorite home 
of the modern prodigal. 

At the time of writing we have no less than 1000 cases of 
inquiry under investigation. Quite recently an heir to an es¬ 
tate was hunted up by our officers, after the police had failed 
in their attempts to discover his whereabouts. 

The fact that our War cry is published in 45 different coun¬ 
tries and colonies, being translated into 26 languages, enables 
us to follow up clues from one country to another, our officers 
and soldiers gladly furnishing their services free of all expense 
in this mission of love. 


CPIAPTER 24 
Farm Colonies 

THE LANDLESS MAN TO THE MANLESS LAND 

Domicide, or the destruction of the family and the home, 
is one of the worst signs of modern civilization. “ I have three 
brothers,” said one of our Bowery boys, adding with the mother 
wit which often characterizes this class, “ but only one is living! 
The other two are married! ” 

The pivot of true social reform turns upon the preservation 
or restoration of the family unit. Society must discover 
methods for dealing with its poor, which shall make it possible 
for them to marry and support their children in decency and 
comfort. - Destroy the home and you destroy the nation. We 
must show the poor man how he can afford to get married. 

The keenest anguish of a city life is that which centers 
round the starving family. The single man, or woman, is not 
to be so much pitied. It is much easier for such to pick up a 
living. Even if they fall, they fall alone. 


30 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


It is far otherwise with the family. Here the finger-prints 
of poverty leave their blackest mark, and the suffering is the 
most appalling, because the victims consist so largely of weak 
women and innocent children and of the class who are eager to 
work if they have but the chance. 

What has society to offer? The brand of pauperdom and 
the annihilation of the home! As a condition of its assistance, 
family ties must be severed. The father must go to this semi- 
penal institution, the mother to a second, and the children to a 
third. Even then, if the future presented some hope of re¬ 
union, the pauper’s lot might be made more endurable. But 
no! “All hope abandon ye who enter here!” What wonder 
then that the poor hate a system which means the trampling 
upon the tenderest affections of the heart? 

The very prosperity of our cities has attracted to many of 
them a larger population than they can absorb. For every 
thousand families who could obtain employment on a living 
wage, two and three thousand have flocked to our great man¬ 
ufacturing centers, with the inevitable result that our principal 
cities have been overcrowded with an increasing number of 
those who, if not absolutely dependent on public or private 
charity, eke out a hand-to-mouth existence of a painful and 
humiliating character. 

How is this growing and ghastly evil to be combatted? Al¬ 
ready taxes have become so heavy in some places that it has 
been no uncommon thing for owners of property to abandon 
their rights through inability to bear the burden. The evil is 
visibly increasing year by year. 

One class of reformers assert the absolute right of the “ out- 
of-works ” to be found employment by the state. But how is 
this to be done without seriously damaging the position of the 
“ in-works f ” The moment the produce of the labor of the 
“ out-of-works ” is thrown on to the market, it can hardly 
fail to lower the value of the goods they produce, and thereby 
lower the wages of the “ in-works ” with Avhom they compete. 



A GROUP OF AMITY, COLO., COLONISTS. 



OUR FIRST STABLE ON THE PRAIRIE. 




















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t 













. • 






























































SOCIAL RELIEF WORK OF SALVATION ARMY IN U. S. 31 

and this on an unfair basis, inasmuch as they constitute cheap 
and underpaid labor. 

Now the farm colony plan avoids this difficulty altogether. 
It says in brief: “ Place the waste labor upon the waste land 
by means of the waste capital, and thereby convert this trinity 
of waste into a unity of production.” It goes “ one better ” 
than the mere “ living wage ” or “ work for everybody ” Idea, 
inasmuch as it proposes to recognize and maintain the family 
unit, and to transform each workless family into a home-maker 
and a home-owner, and this without imperilling the position of 
the “ in-works.” On the contrary, the latter will be vastly bet¬ 
tered, first by the removal of the terrible incubus of taxation, 
and second by the fact that the multitudes thus happily removed 
will immediately require the produce of the “ in-works ” labor, 
thereby increasing the home demand enormously. 

Suppose, for instance, as has been suggested by a leading 
New York philanthropist, that a fund of $100,000,000 
should be created for finding temporary employment for 
the “ out-of-works ” in the cities where they at present 
congregate. This would probably aggravate the evil instead 
of mitigating it. For one thing it would enormously increase 
the temptation, which is already drawing millions of our coun¬ 
try population to the cities, by adding an element of apparent 
security, since they would feel that if they failed to obtain 
work for themselves, they could always fall back upon this fund. 

Again, it would quickly be exhausted. Already $50,000,000 
are being annually poured down the throats of our 3,000,000 
submerged without producing any appreciable difference, 
beyond prolonging their existence under circumstances, which 
are alike degrading and dishonorable. As for really mitigat¬ 
ing or removing the evil, it does not even pretend to do so, 
and it may be fairly questioned whether our present system 
does not daily and hourly aggravate it. 

And yet the real remedy is so extremely simple that it seems 
amazing that it has not been accepted and put into operation 


32 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


long ago. The same money which is now absorbed year by 
year, either in placing the “ out-of-works ” in cruel competi¬ 
tion with the “ in-works/’ or in training the former in habits 
of idleness, while sacred family ties are ruthlessly shattered, and 
vast and increasing hordes of homeless and hopeless men and 
women created, to be a prey to the anarchist and a menace to 
society — the same money, I venture to assert — only yearly 
less of it, might be invested in buying land, erecting cottages, 
and planting colonies of happy, home-owning families, who 
would be a bulwark of strength to our nation. 

On this plan, even that most hopeless and degraded pro¬ 
duction of our modern civilization, the genuine “ }wbo” would 
be turned, if I may so play upon the word, into a “ homebo,” 
or at least a “ hopebo! ” Flash before the eyes of even our 
criminal, as well as of our pauper, population, the possibility 
of becoming, not merely the serfs of the soil or of the labor 
employer, but home-owners , and it requires no prophet to dis¬ 
cover that you will cut in two the present number of our in¬ 
stitutions for these classes. 

The existing annual expenditure of $50,000,000 would 
suffice to remove from our cities 500,000 men, women and 
children in families, at an average cost of $100 per head. 
The money so laid out would be permanently and safely 
invested, and would be secured by the “ natural increment ” 
of the land thus densely peopled. The colonies would easily 
pay 5# interest on the investment, and the entire outlay 
would be repaid within, at the longest, from 10 to 15 years, 
when it would be reinvested in planting another vast series 
of colonies. 

That this is no mere idle dream is proven by the experience 
we have already gained on our three American colonies. In 
Colorado, in California, and in Ohio, we have established ex¬ 
perimental centers, the results of which have been eminently 
satisfactory. We were told by many that so infatuated were 


* 



SALVATION ARMY WORKINGMEN’S INSTITUTE, SAN FRANCISCO CALIFORNIA 


































SOCIAL RELIEF WORK OF SALVATION ARMY IN U. S. 33 

the poor with city life, that no persuasions would prevail on 
them 

a) to go to such colonies at all; 

b) to stay on them if they did go; 

c) to work with the industry which a farmer’s life would 1 
entail; and 

d) to pay back the money expended in transplanting them. 
It was also pointed out to us that the attempt to colonize had 
often failed, even under the most favorable circumstances, 
owing to the above causes. 

But the failures of the past may always be traced to some 
distinct cause, which should serve as a warning beacon to 
future enterprise, and not for its discouragement Because the 
coast of the Atlantic is dotted with wrecks, shall we refuse to 
found our New Yorks and Bostons? Nay, let us erect all the 
needful lighthouses, mark with buoys the dangerous chan¬ 
nels, blow up, if needs be, the Hell’s Gate obstructions, and 
then throw open our harbors to the commerce of the world! 

Even so with our colonization plans, it will be found that 
the failures of the past have been almost entirely due 

a) to lack of proper organization; 

b) to the spirit of self-seeking; 

c) to the lack of capital; or 

d) to the careless choice of unsuitable colonists. 

All these causes are perfectly avoidable. They are rocks on 
which common sense can build its warning signals, and of 
which future enterprises can ,steer clear. 

That America is singularly suited for operations of this 
character, is proven by the fact that they are already being 
carried on, quietly, but on a vast scale and with remarkable 
success under our very eyes by the Mormons. From Idaho to 
Arizona, from Nevada to Colorado, they are rapidly absorb¬ 
ing under the homestead laws the richest and most fertile 
valleys of the great Western plateau. Pastmasters in the art of 
irrigation and cultivation, they are accumulating a wealth and 

3 


34 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


laying the foundations of a power, the extent of which it is diffi¬ 
cult to overestimate. 

Surely, it is high time that our vast Eastern centers of civ¬ 
ilization and wealth from Chicago to New York, from Boston 
to Washington, should wake up to the grand possibilities that 
lie before them, and turn some of their immense accumulations 
of non-interest-earning capital to the solution of the nation’s 
greatest problem, and its greatest need by the placing of the 
landless man on the manless land. 

This, I venture to prophesy, will be the coming battle-cry 
of the philanthropist, the capitalist, and the statesman, while 
to those interested in the spiritual and moral welfare of our 
unchurched masses, it will seem all important that the leaven 
of religion should be mingled with this dough of humanity in 
its latter-day Exodus in search of a home Canaan! 

That thousands in our crowded cities are eagerly waiting for 
an opportunity to take part in that exodus, we can prove from 
the list of some 5000 persons who have, without solicitation, 
offered themselves to us for the purpose. 

That they are willing to stay, to work, and to pay their 
way, has also been abundantly proven by those whom we have 
been able to send forth. 

The Washington correspondent of the Chicago record re¬ 
cently visited our Colorado colony in company with the vice- 
president of the Santa Fe R. R., Paul Morton, and its industrial 
commissioner, James Davis. It was quite a “ surprise visit,” 
quite unexpected by either colonists or manager. 

In a glowing two-column story, Mr Curtis gives the his¬ 
tory of the enterprise. His concluding paragraphs contain the 
following sentences: 

There is no neater group of houses in Colorado, and no 
more contented community in the world. Nearly everyone 
has written to friends urging them to join the next colony that 
comes out, and those I talked with were enthusiastic over their 
success and the pleasures they enjoy. It was difficult for some 
of them to find words to express their emotions. . . . 



SALVATION ARMY SALVAGE WAREHOUSE, CHICAGO 




















































SOCIAL RELIEF WORK OF SALVATION ARMY IN U. S. 35 

The ranchmen and cowboys no longer make fun of the Sal¬ 
vation army colony. They recognize not only a great suc¬ 
cess, but a purpose also, and give the colonists their hearty and 
cordial support. 

The only serious difficulty that has been encountered by us, 
has been the lack of sufficient capital to conduct the enterprise 
on a broad and national basis. With an outlay of $60,000 
we have been enabled on our three colonies to erect about 60 
cottages, locate about 200 men, women and children as colo¬ 
nists, pay traveling, freight, and installments on land, purchase 
about 100 horses and 200 cows, as well as pigs and poultry, to¬ 
gether with machinery and general outfit, besides meeting the 
living expenses of <pur colonists for nearly two years. The out¬ 
lay is in every case more than covered by the greatly enhanced 
value of the land thus thickly settled, each colonist having from 
five to twenty acres allotted to him, the exact amount varying 
according to the quality of the soil, the value of the land and 
the nearness of the market. On our Colorado colony we cleared 
more than $1000 last year (1899) by the sale of our 
canteloupe crop alone, and our creamery is already bringing 
the colonists a cash income of $3000 per year. Of the 14 
families who formed the original settlers, 18 months ago, 
and of the 12 additional families who have since joined 
them, all but one are .self-supporting, and the solitary excep¬ 
tion is due to illness. Strangely enough he is the only single 
colonist, the others being married, and mostly with large fam¬ 
ilies. 

The following prominent citizens have warmly advocated 
this system of dealing with the poor, and have cordially co¬ 
operated with us in our work: The late Governor Roswell P. 
Flower, of New York; ex-Governor Alva Adams, of Colorado; 
Governor Hazen Pingree, of Michigan; Hon. Benjamin F. 
Tracy, former secretary to the navy; Hon. Charles F. Mac- 
Lean, justice of the supreme court of New York; Hon. John 
E. Milholland, former editor of the Tribune , New York; Hon. 


36 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


Josiah Quincy, former mayor of Boston; Hon. Platt Rogers, 
former mayor of Denver; Hon. James D. Phelan, mayor of 
San Francisco; Hon. L. R. Ellert, former mayor of San Fran¬ 
cisco; Hon. Luther T.afKn Mills, attorney, Chicago; Hon. 
Myron T. Herrick, president Bank of savings, Cleveland; Rabbi 
Voorsanger, of San Francisco; E. P. Ripley, Esq., president 
of the Santa Fe R. R.; John E. Searles, esq., of New York; 
Gaus Spreckles, esq., of San Francisco; Daniel Meyer, esq., 
of San Francisco. 

At the Sixth national irrigation congress, the following 
resolution was unanimously passed: 

RescLrcd, That we have heard with great interest and 
great pleasure Mrs Booth Tucker’s presentation and explana¬ 
tion of the purposes of the Salvation army in organizing colo¬ 
nies of the worthy poor in our great cities to settle and build 
homes on the rich irrigated lands of the west. This is a 
grand, noble and patriotic work, and deserves the earnest com¬ 
mendation and support of every citizen of our country. The 
west extends a hearty welcome to these people, and we pledge 
our sympathy and support in aiding these people to make 
happy homes upon our rich and productive land.— Lincoln , 
Nebraska , September, 1897 

The fact that we have so large a number of social relief es¬ 
tablishments, accommodating about 7000 persons, scattered 
throughout the principal cities of the United States, and that 
in addition to this our 704 corp* and slum posts bring us into 
constant and immediate contact with the masses of the needy 
poor, who have the utmost confidence in our good faith, and 
know that we are not trying to exploit them in the interests of 
seme land boom or speculative scheme, places us in a specially 
favorable position for handling such an enterprise. We are 
able, without any additional expense, to carefully sift and train 
our colonists before sending them out, and to re-absorb in city 
fife those of them who may not prove to be adapted to the 
colony. 

At the same time, our military and methodical system of 





SALVATION ARMY JUNK SHOP, CHICAGO 






















































SOCIAL RELIEF WORK OF SALVATION ARMY IN U. S. 37 

management enables us to handle these colonists, and to or¬ 
ganize and weld them into one harmonious whole in a manner 
which would otherwise be very difficult. 

Certainly it may be said, without hesitation, that there are 
few branches of sociology, which possess more interest for the 
student of pauperology. Our farm colonies differ from ordinary 
poor farms in the same way that our ordinary city institutions 
differ from a prison. There is nothing of a penal character 
about them. The colonist is not a mere day-laborer without 
any direct interest in the soiL He is not separated from his 
family. The links of love are strengthened, instead of being 
relaxed, and he has placed before him the bright possibility of 
becoming a home-owner, while the element of doubt and fear 
in regard to the future of his children, is removed by the fact 
that they, too, can marry, settle down and become home- 
owners like himself, of a similar cottage and lot, without the 
necessity of being dependent on his earnings or on what he 
may leave them when he dies. The son and daughter have as 
good a chance of a start in life as their parents, without any 
of the bitter experiences through which the latter have passed. 
At the same time there is nothing to prevent the brightest 
members of the family from entering legal, mercantile or other 
professions. 

In view of the existing plethora of educational and medical 
philanthropies, is it too much to hope that America will lead 
the way along this new line of sociology, and prove to the 
nations of the world that a poor man properly handled can be 
a greater source of national wealth than any gold mine which 
has yet been discovered- 
























































































































































































































































































































































































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Department of Social Economy 
for THE 

United States Commission to the Paris Exposition of 1900 


MONOGRAPHS 

ON 

AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


The Care of Destitute, Neglected, and 
Delinquent Children 

BY 

HOMER FOLKS 

Secretary of the New York State Charities Aid Association 


[This paper is one of an historical series on American philanthropy which is being 
published by The Charities Review. It is reprinted by permission of the Review, which 
reserves all rights of publication.] 





Copyrighted 1900 
by 

THE CHARITIES REVIEW 



J. B. LYON COMPANY 
PRINTERS AND BINDERS 
ALBANY, N. Y. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 


The Care of Destitute, Neglected and Delinquent 
Children 

PAGE. 

I — The situation in 1801 . ....... 5 

II — Public care of destitute children, 1801-1875. 11 

III — Private charities for destitute children, 1801-1875, 30 

IV — Removal of children from almshouses. 47 

V — Public systems, other than almshouse care,, 1875- 

1900. 52 

VI — Neglected children. 96 

VII — Private charities for destitute and neglected chil¬ 
dren, 1875-1900. 103 

VIII — Delinquent children . 111 

IX — Present tendencies . 128 

X — Bibliography. 133 


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THE CARE OF DESTITUTE, NEGLECTED, AND 
DELINQUENT CHILDREN. 


In arranging the papers of this series it has seemed best to 
limit the present one to the consideration of the care of children 
who have been removed from their earlier environment and 
from parental control, and the direction of whose lives and 
burden of whose support has been assumed by public authori¬ 
ties or private charity. Many activities often included under 
the term “ child-saving ” will, therefore, not be considered. 
Nothing will be said, for instance, of movements that are pri¬ 
marily educational, such as day schools, kindergartens and 
home libraries. Various agencies which help poor families to 
keep their children under their own care, such as day nurseries, 
will be considered in the paper on “ the care and relief of 
needy families.” Children’s hospitals will be considered in the 
paper on “ hospitals, dispensaries and nursing; ” institutions 
for the training of mentally defective children, in that on “ the 
insane, feeble-minded and epileptic; ” while the paper on “ pre¬ 
ventive work ” will touch child life at many points not men¬ 
tioned above. 


I —THE SITUATION IN 1801. 

The opening of the nineteenth century found the English 
poor-law system well established in most of the sixteen States 
then comprising the Union. The poor, children and adults, 
were cared for by the local administrative units, towns (#. e. f 

5 



6 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


townships) or counties and cities. There was little or no over¬ 
sight or control by the States, and, then as now, none by the 
Federal authorities. Little distinction was made as between 
adults and children, both being cared for in one of five ways: 

1. By outdoor relief, given to families at their own homes. 

2. By farming out to various families, usually to the lowest 
bidder. 

3. By contracting with some individual, usually the lowest 
bidder, to care for all the poor of a given locality. 

4. By supporting them in an almshouse directly under the 
control of public authorities. 

5. By indenture. 

The farming-out and contract systems had comparatively 
little application so far as children were concerned. The 
indenture system, although especially applicable to children, 
was, it is curious to note, also used as a means of caring for 
adults. The statutes of several States provided, at the open¬ 
ing of the century, that idle or vagrant persons might /be 
indentured to respectable citizens for a period of one year. 

OUTDOOR RELIEF. 

In tracing the early history of the public care of pauper chil¬ 
dren it will be necessary to follow for some time the systems 
of outdoor relief and almshouse care. Outdoor relief was 
undoubtedly the method by which the larger number of pauper 
children, as well as adults, were cared for at the opening of 
the century, /it had already passed (in 1784 in New York) 
from the control of the church authorities to that of the over¬ 
seers of the poor, w r ho w r ere strictly public officials. The 
reports upon public relief made at a little later date, by com¬ 
petent authorities in Boston and New York, indicate that 
outdoor relief exerted the same evil influences upon children 


DESTITUTE, NEGLECTED AND DELINQUENT CHILDREN 7 

at the opening of the century as at its close in those localities 
in which it still prevails. 

INSTITUTIONAL CARE. 

Almshouses were first built by the large cities. Philadel¬ 
phia, the largest city in the United States at the opening of 
the century (population, 70,287), was then occupying its second 
^ public almshouse, opened in 1767 and located on the area 
bounded by Tenth and Eleventh and Spruce and Pine streets. 
Both adults and children were cared for in this institution. 

New York, the second city in the Union (population, 60,489), 
had just abandoned (in 1796) its original almshouse, and had 
removed its paupers to a much larger building, located in the 
present City Hall park, and on the site of the present county 
courthouse. Here were numbers of children, together with 
the many other elements of almshouse population that in large 
cities have since been segregated into special classes. The 
almshouse, while under the immediate management of a super¬ 
intendent, was largely controlled by the common council, 
v which held its meetings at the almshouse once in three months 
and inspected the institution. On October 6, 1800, a com¬ 
mittee of the common council, appointed to frame a new set 
of rules for the management of the almshouse, reported as 
among the objects to be attained the following: 

The children of the house should be under the government 
of capable matrons. * * * They should be uniformed, 

housed^and lodged in separate departments, according to their 
different sexes; they should be kept as much as possible from 
the other paupers, habituated to decency, cleanliness and order, 
and carefully instructed in reading, writing and arithmetic. 
The girls should also be taught to sew and knit. 


8 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


When the children arrive at proper ages, great care should 
be taken to furnish them with suitable places, that they may 
be instructed in some useful trade or occupation. 1 

The exact number of children in the New York city alms¬ 
house in 1801 is not available, but on August 14, 1809, they 
numbered 226— 125 boys and 101 girls. It is likely that the 
city also boarded a number of infants in families at this time. 
The rules established by the common council in 1800 provided 
that “ care shall be taken to provide healthy and proper nurses 
for such of the children as may require them; and where this 
can be done out of the house, it shall be preferred.” 1 Some¬ 
what later, on April 1, 1823, we learn that there were 129 
infants placed out “ at nurse,” and paid for by the city at the 
rate of $1 per week. 

Baltimore, the third city in the Union (population, 26,614), 
probably cared for its destitute children in the Baltimore county 
almshouse, the city having no charitable institution under its 
immediate direction at that time. 

Boston, the fourth city (population, 24,027), erected its sec¬ 
ond almshouse, for both children and adults, in 1800. Out¬ 
door relief was also given freely, as was the case quite gen¬ 
erally throughout New England. The proportion of “ unset¬ 
tled,” or State, paupers was increasing, but they were cared 
for by the cities and towns, which were reimbursed by the 
State. 

There were no other cities in the United States having a 
population above ten thousand. In most of Pennsylvania, and 
generally in the Southern States, the county system of poor 
relief prevailed, and many counties erected almshouses. In 
Maryland, the county almshouse system was established by law 
in 1768. In Delaware, each county had an almshouse by 1823. 

So far as known, the only public institution for children, not 
forming part of an almshouse, existing in 1801, was the Charles- 


1 Minutes of the common council, 1800. Manuscript in city library at 
city hall. 



DESTITUTE, NEGLECTED AND DELINQUENT CHILDREN g 


ton, S. C., orphan house. The charter of Charleston, granted 
at the close of the Revolutionary War, imposed upon the city 
the duty of providing for poor orphans. For some years the 
children were boarded in families, but in 1790 a resolution was 
adopted by the city council in favor of the establishment of 
an orphan house. At first a building was hired for this pur¬ 
pose, but a new structure erected by the city was opened Octo¬ 
ber 18, 1794, to receive the 115 orphans who were city charges. 
The records of the institution tell of an appreciative visit to 
the institution by President Washington. 

INDENTURE. 

The plan of indenturing or apprenticing destitute children, 
also taken from the English poor law, was in very general use 
at the opening of the century. It had been carefully regulated 
by law in Massachusetts in 1703, in New York in 1754, in 
Pennsylvania in 1771, and in Maryland in 1797, and doubtless 
found legal recognition in still earlier statutes in these and 
other States. The rules established by the common council 
for the government of the New York almshouse in 1800 pro¬ 
vided that “ When any of the children arrive at proper ages 
they shall be bound out to suitable trades or occupations, and 
provision shall be made in their indenture for their due main¬ 
tenance and instruction. If any of those who shall have been 
so bound out, shall be injured or ill treated, the superintendent 
shall consider it as his duty to procure them redress. They 
are to be considered in every respect as the children of the 
public, under his care.” 1 In Virginia, overseers of the poor 
were required by law to make monthly reports, to the county 
courts, of the poor orphans and other children bound ouX: 

PRIVATE CHARITIES. 

The previous century had seen the beginnings of a remark¬ 
able development of private charities for the care of children. 


1 Ibid. 



10 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


The first orphan asylum in the country was that attached to 
the Ursuline convent in New Orleans. This convent was 
established by ten nuns in 1727, under the auspices of Louis XV 
of France. It maintained a day school and a hospital and 
also received, during the first year, an orphan rescued by a 
missionary from a dissolute family. The frightful massacre 
by the Natchez Indians in 1729 left many orphans in and near 
New Orleans, and the convent established an asylum for their 
care. In 1824, the convent was removed to a country site, and 
owing to the growth of other asylums, provision was made for 
the care of but 30 orphans, which number the convent still 
maintains. 

The Bethesda orphan house was established in Savannah 
in 1738, five years after the colony was settled, by the cele¬ 
brated preacher, George Whitefield, to whom, he states, the 
plan was suggested by Reverend Charles Wesley and Gov¬ 
ernor Oglethorpe. This was founded by funds collected by 
Whitefield in England. In 1797, the society for the relief of 
poor widows with small children was organized in New York 
city. This society did not establish an institution, but visited 
and gave relief to the widows and children in their homes. 
In 1798, an association was organized by a Roman Catholic 
priest in Philadelphia to care for the orphans of Catholics who 
died of yellow fever during that year. Subsequently this in¬ 
stitution became St. Joseph’s female orphan asylum. In 1799, 
an asylum for the care and education of destitute girls was 
established by St. Paul’s church in Baltimore, and in 1800 the 
Boston female asylum for indigent orphan girls was 
incorporated. 

SUMMARY. 

As to destitute children, the situation at the opening of the 
century may, therefore, be summed up in the statement that 
children who were public charges were, as a rule, cared for 
jmth adult paupers by the contract system, or in almshouses, 
or by outdoor relief, or were bound out as apprentices; that 


DESTITUTE, NEGLECTED AND DELINQUENT CHILDREN II 


Charleston had a municipal orphan asylum; and that private 
institutions for children had been established in New Orleans, 
Savannah, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Boston^ 

As to neglected children, we find in the statutes of the time 
but few provisions for their rescue and care. As early as 1735, 
in Boston, children whose parents were unable or neglected 
to provide for their support and education, might be bound 
out by the overseers of the poor. The laws of Maryland au¬ 
thorized, in 1797, the binding out of the children of beggars. 
The class of [children who are now forcibly removed from the 
control of unfit parents apparently remained with their families, 
as a rule, until the latter became destitute, when the children 
were cared for as pauper children, or until the fruits of neglect 
were reaped, and the children, convicted of offences, were sent 
to jails and penitentiaries along with older offenders. In the 
penitentiary of New York city, on April 1, 1823, we are in¬ 
formed, there were thirty-two boys. 

II — PUBLIC CARE OF CHILDREN, 1801-1875. 

Agencies for the care of destitute children have sprung from 
two sources — from public bodies acting in behalf of the whole 
community, and from private benevolence exercised through 
individual or associated effort. The term public, as used 
throughout this paper in connection with institutions or agen¬ 
cies for the care of children, indicates such as are under the di¬ 
rect control of governmental bodies and are supported from 
public funds. The term private indicates all other agencies, 
whether managed by individuals or by societies, churches or 
corporations. 

The public care of children during the first three-quarters of 
the century follows, in the main, the changes in the care of 
adult paupers, though in the larger cities provision was made 
for children separate from that for adults, but under the same 
administrative control. The movement as a whole was toward 


12 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


an increased use of almshouses and a relative diminution of 
outdoor relief. The farming-out and contract systems passed 
largely into disuse, and in some States were forbidden by law. 

As it is undoubtedly fairly indicative of the manner in winch 
most municipal institutions for children have been conducted, 
the history of the care of children by the city of New York will 
be considered at some length. That of other important munici¬ 
palities will follow more briefly. 

PUBLIC CARE IN NEW YORK. 

The common council of this city, whose minutes during the 
first three-quarters of the century afford many illustrations of 
aldermanic wisdom as applied to child-saving, appointed Janu¬ 
ary 7, 1805, a committee to consider and report upon the expe¬ 
diency of granting the application of the commissioners of the 
almshouse for the establishment at the almshouse of a school 
for the pauper children. Whether the school was established 
or not we do not know. In 1816 the children were removed, 
along with the almshouse paupers, the hospital, and the prison 
department, to the new Bellevue establishment at Twenty-sixth 
street and East river.— the main building of which is still used 
as Bellevue hospital. On April 1, 1823, there were 553 children 
in the Bellevue almshouse, and the number of children in fami¬ 
lies aided by public outdoor relief was estimated at 4,000. 
Here, at least, a school was provided, for a writer in 1826, de¬ 
scribing the almshouse establishment, says: “ One of the pub¬ 
lic or free schools (No. 6), conducted upon the monitorial 
system and containing 300 scholars, is in appropriate rooms 
for males and females. The school is well conducted, and the 
teachers are under the direction of the public school committee 
of the city. The children are orderly, clean, decently clothed 
and in good health,” 1 — an optimistic report, not altogether 
sustained by later developments. The writer continues: 
“ There are two brick buildings, one at each end of the fac¬ 
tory, 75 x 25 feet, containing six rooms each, which were for- 


1 “ The picture of New York,” 1826, Astor library. 



DESTITUTE, NEGLECTED AND DELINQUENT CHILDREN 13 

merly occupied as hospitals, one for men and one for women, 
who have been removed to the new hospital, and these rooms 
are now used for children and their nurses. ,, The almshouse 
census in 1828 showed that the number of juvenile inmates had 
increased during the preceding five years from 553 to 667. 

A severe outbreak of ophthalmia in 1831 proved to be the 
beginning of the end of the use of the Bellevue establishment 
as a home for pauper children. On May 23, 1831, the board 
of assistant aldermen directed the committee on charity and 
the almshouse to report at the next meeting the present con¬ 
dition of the almshouse children afflicted with ophthalmia, and 
the cause. A month later the common council authorized the 
committee to employ a physician to assist the resident physi¬ 
cian in the treatment of these children. He was to receive $3 
for each day that he visited them. 

Just at this time the city purchased Blackwell’s island and 
also three farms in Queens county, located on the East river 
opposite Blackwell’s island and known as the Long Island 
farms. A portion of the children having ophthalmia were 
removed from Bellevue to Blackwell’s island. In July, the 
commissioners of the almshouse were authorized to remove 
the convalescent children from here to the Long Island farms, 
and to transfer from the almshouse to Blackwell’s island the 
residue of the children afflicted with ophthalmia. On July 22, 
1831, a committee of the board of assistant aldermen reported 
that they had visited the children on the island, and found that 
“ their general health was manifestly changed from a sickly 
hue to a robust appearance.” 1 

A little later, on December 5, 183.1, we find the following 
resolution adopted by the assistant aldermen: “Whereas, sev¬ 
eral of the children at the Alms House having been afflicted 
by the disease termed Ophthalma, therefore, Resolved, that it 
be referred to the Committee of the Alms House to ascertain 
and report to this Board whether they can be taught any and 


1 Proceedings of board of assistant aldermen, 1831. 



14 AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 

what useful employments that may render them less burthen- 
some to themselves, and what will be the probable expense.” 1 

In June, 1832, the common council received a communica¬ 
tion from the almshouse commissioners, recommending that 
the children in that establishment be transferred to the Long 
Island farms, stating that it would be necessary to erect tem¬ 
porary buildings at each of the three farms, and stating also 
that 120 of the almshouse children had ophthalmia. This rec¬ 
ommendation was acted upon, for one of the commissioners, in 
a letter of resignation dated July 1, 1833, stated that most of 
the children had been transferred from Bellevue to the Long 
Island farms, which were originally intended “ for the special 
benefit of this unoffending, interesting and numerous class of 
paupers.” The commissioner goes on to state that “ soon 
after the purchase of the farms, in 1831, a man was placed 
upon them, ostensibly to cut wood in winter, his large family 
to be supported, and he to have $2 per day besides.” 2 The 
commissioner complains that, although the man is not qualified 
to superintend either the farms or the children, he still remains 
in charge of both. As a consequence, he says, “ 118 boys 
dined last Saturday upon dry, hard, boiled salt beef, with dry- 
bread, but no vegetables.” He closes: “ I would anxiously 
but respectfully recommend to your honorable bodies that 
you do consider the case of these poor children.” From this 
time on, all of the children, except perhaps those needing 
hospital care, and the infants who were boarded out, were kept 
at the Long Island farms. On September 1, 1834, they num- 
bered 680, and 130 were at nurse in the city. The numbers 
increased, for the commissioners at this time announced the 
policy of “ readily receiving all children who belong to the city 
and are destitute, and, when once within the establishment, 
keeping them under all usual circumstances until they are 
taught to read and write.” 3 They adopted a rule that girls 

1 Proceedings of board of assistant aldermen, 1831. 

2 Documents of common council, 1833. 

3 Documents of common council, 1834. 



DESTITUTE, NEGLECTED AND DELINQUENT CHILDREN 15 

should not be bound out under the age of ten years, nor boys 
under the age of twelve, stating that during the previous year 
eighty children under those ages had been indentured. A ques¬ 
tion that is still troublesome to all institutions caring for chil¬ 
dren was thus stated in the report of the almshouse commis¬ 
sioners for 1834: 

“ The commissioners can bind the children out the day they 
enter the almshouse and the parents lose all control over them; 
but if they remain in the almshouse unbound, the parents or 
guardians can probably demand them and take them out. 
Now if they are once abandoned by their parents or friends to 
the public, and put in the almshouse school, it should be 
optional with the commissioners to deliver them back to the 
parents and friends or not. It will be readily perceived that 
there are many cases in which the taking of the children from 
school and delivering them back to intemperate parents, per¬ 
haps criminal ones, would be the certain destruction of the 
little education obtained and of the welfare and morals of the 
children.” 1 The report goes on to state that the Long Island 
farms are, to a considerable extent, in an uncultivated state, 
but that they believe the citizens will not regret the purchase 
when they consider “ that the previous abode of these children 
was within high walls, containing a state prison, county prison, 
a bridewell, and an almshouse establishment.” 1 

Almost immediately, however, an agitation was begun for the 
sale of the Long Island farms and the removal of the children 
to Randall’s island, which was purchased by the city in 1835. 
In the same year a committee of the board of aldermen reported 
in favor of moving both the children’s institutions and the 
almshouse to Randall’s island. Nothing was actually done for 
some years, although the subject was reported upon nearly 
every year. 

The message of the mayor, May, 1840, states that there 
were 900 children in the schools on the Long Island farms, 
and that 349 children had been bound out during the preceding 


1 Documents of common council, 1834. 



l6 AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 

year. In 1843, plans were adopted by the almshouse commis¬ 
sioners for the removal of both the almshouse and. the chil¬ 
dren’s institutions to Blackwell’s island. Buildings were to be 
erected just north of the present site of the almshouse, to 
accommodate 1,000 children. This plan was not carried into 
effect, and in 1845 the Long Island farms had been sold, and 
a large building was erected on Randall’s island for the pauper 
children. This, however, burned before the children were 
removed to it, and the question again arose as to where they 
should be located. It was finally decided to erect a series; of 
detached buildings on Randall’s island. Early in 1847, how¬ 
ever, the large building now occupied by the almshouse for 
* 

women on Blackwell’s island was completed, and the children 
were removed thither, “ owing to the dilapidation of the old 
and wretched Long Island farms hovels.” 1 Here they 
remained a year, during which time ten brick buildings were 
erected for them on Randall’s island. The commissioner again 
stated it to be his intention to retain the children, before inden¬ 
turing them, until they had received a better education. He 
thought girls should not leave the institution until they were 
thirteen years, and boys fifteen years of age. He also con¬ 
demned unsparingly the custom of detailing adult paupers, 
vagrants, and even criminals from the city institutions to care 
for the children. “ Proper and efficient nurses should be hired, 
whose characters are a guarantee for the propriety of their 
actions.” On April 15, 1848, the children were removed to 
the Randall’s island institution, and the commissioner trium¬ 
phantly reported, u We can certainly now, after having been 
incommoded with miserable and unsightly hovels for many 
years, boast with a becoming pride of possessing the most 
complete, convenient, and elegant establishment for the rear¬ 
ing of young orphans of the city’s care known in the world; — 
here true humanity can fulfill its ennobling mission.” 2 There 


1 Documents of common council, 1847. 

2 Report of commissioner of almshouse, 1848. 



' DESTITUTE, NEGLECTED AND DELINQUENT CHILDREN 17 

remained in the Randall’s island institutions, December 31, 
1848, a total of 1,054 children. There were also 165 children 
at nurse. During 1849, 514 children were cared for at nurse; 
of them, 50 were adopted, 97 were restored to friends, and 
280 died. This was a cholera year, and, commenting on the 
death rate, the clerk of the outdoor poor department remarks 
that “ The mortality among the children at nurse for the alms¬ 
house was awfully fatal and extensive.” 1 Of the 109 children 
boarded out at the close of 1849, “ about 36 ” were reported as 
illegitimate children, mostly boarded with their mothers, 27 
as foundlings, and 46 as the children of destitute parents. At 
this time the almshouse was under the control of one commis¬ 
sioner. Among other improvements, he employed an agent 
to visit the children at nurse, and also those indentured. The 
report for 1848 contains interesting statements concerning 
many of the children visited, thus,—“ Bridget —, with Michael 
—> 349 Water St., about seven years; is now fourteen years 
old; a very industrious girl; reads, writes, and ciphers.” 
“ Mary —, with William —, on 27th St., for two and one-half 
years; is now fourteen years old; education neglected,— prom¬ 
ised to attend to it.” “ James —, with —, 205 Christie St., 
for two years and one-half; is nine years old; a very good boy.” 

In 1849, a board of governors succeeded the almshouse com¬ 
missioner, and to some extent reversed his policy. They were 
in favor of placing children in families, and believed that legis¬ 
lation should be had enabling them to indenture children out¬ 
side of the State. They stated that while they had been able 
to supply most of the demand for indenturing, no girls “ capa¬ 
ble of being put out remained,” although there were still a 
number of boys of suitable age and size. 

From then on the history of the Randall’s island nurseries is 
uneventful, until the legislation of 1875, which forbade the city 
to retain in its institutions healthy children over two years of 
age. The early reports of the State board of charities and of 

1 Report of commissioner of almshouse, 1848. 


2 




l8 ^ AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 

the State charities aid association contain many unsparing 
criticisms of the pitiful condition of the children, cared for in 
part by female prisoners from the workhouse. 

The boarding out of infants continued until some date 
between 1863 and 1866, when they were all returned to the 
almshouse. In 1866 an infants’ department of the almshouse 
was created, where, the report states, the “ foundling infants, 
hitherto distributed among the wards of the almshouse, and 
consigned to the mercies of reluctant attendants, have been 
gathered under the care of a matron and kind and attentive 
nurses.” 1 This was at first called the infants’ bureau, and in 
1867 the erection of a large new building for its use on Ran¬ 
dall’s island was begun. JDuring the winter of 1867-68, owing 
to the overcrowding ofrfie almshouse, the infants’ hospital was 
removed to the newly erected building intended for an inebriate 
asylum, where it remained until August, 1869, when it was re¬ 
moved to its present building on Randall’s island. The death 
rate continued high, however, and the boarding out in West¬ 
chester county of the foundling and motherless babies was be¬ 
gun in 1871 or 1872. Boarding out was discontinued in 1890, 
but was renewed on a small scale in 1898, with the co-operation 
of two private charities. 


PHILADELPHIA. 

Philadelphia continued to occupy the almshouse located at 
Tenth and Pine streets until about 1835. In 1810, the average 
number of children supported in the institution was 171, and 
during the same year 212 children were at nurse out of the 
house. The rules and regulations for the internal government 
of the almshouse, adopted December 21, 1821, contained elab¬ 
orate provisions in regard to the children, and particularly in 
regard to the conduct of the school in the institution. Among 
other interesting provisions is the following: “ The teacher 
shall use lenity and kindness to the boys under his care, and 


1 Report of board of governors of almshouses, 1866. 



DESTITUTE, NEGLECTED AND DELINQUENT CHILDREN 19 

in no case inflict corporal punishment.” It was also pro¬ 
vided that “ it shall be the duty of the teacher to attend with 
his scholars at divine service when in the house, and keep them 
as much as possible silent and in order, and place them by them¬ 
selves.” 

The report of a committee appointed at a town meeting of 
the citizens of the city and county of Philadelphia, July 23, 
1827, to consider the subject of the pauper system of the city 
and districts and to report remedies for its defects, 1 throws 
much light on the condition of the children in the almshouse. 
Among the questions proposed by this committee to the man¬ 
agers of the almshouse was the following: ‘‘Are the children 
during their stay in the house separated from adults by day 
and night?” The answer was: “The greater number of the 
children in the house are separated from the adults at night, 
but the present buildings are too limited to allow of an arrange¬ 
ment so desirable and necessary during the day.” Among the 
defects enumerated by the committee was the lack of author¬ 
ity in the board of guardians to bind out children who became 
public charges, without the consent of the parents. The report 
stated: “ The children of paupers are received into the asylum, 
nursed when necessary, fed and comfortably clothed at a very 
great expense to the public; as soon as they arrive at a suitable 
age to be bound out and proper places are provided for them, 
they are frequently withdrawn by their parents and return to 
the haunts of poverty and vice from which they had been taken, 
and thus the benevolent purposes of the institution are defeated 
and the public funds uselessly expended.” The committee 
recommended that the buildings occupied as an almshouse and 
children’s asylum be sold and new buildings erected; that “ the 
children’s asylum be so constructed as to guard against the 
diseases to which the inmates of the present establishment are 
subject,” and that the board of guardians be given power to 
bind out children who become public charges without the con- 


1 Philadelphia, 1827 . 




20 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


sent of parents, unless the expenses incurred for their support 
be defrayed and a security be given that they will not again 
become chargeable for two years. It appears from the tables 
accompanying the report of the committee that, on May 22, 
1826, there were 145 children in the children’s asylum, and 
that during the preceding year, 182 were bound out, 51 died, 
45 were discharged, 29 eloped, and 522 were returned to parents 
and relatives. 

From the question and answer quoted above it is evident 
that the children’s asylum was at this time located either in 
the almshouse building, or so near that the children and the 
adults were not kept apart by day. We are informed, how¬ 
ever, that at some date prior to 1835 the children’s asylum 
was located on Fifth, between Pine and Federal streets. 1 This 
would be some five blocks distant from the main almshouse. 
It is possible, though not probable, that the children’s asylum 
referred to in the report of the committee of 1827 was not in 
nor adjacent to the almshouse, but was already located in the 
building at Fifth and Pine streets. Force is given to this sug¬ 
gestion by the statement in the report of the committee of 
1827 that “ the average number of children in the house from 
April, 1820, to May, 1826, was 154,” and that “the expenses 
of the institution from its commencement to May, 1826, exclu¬ 
sive of cost of house and lot and new additional buildings, 
amounted to $44,508.41.” The evidence is not conclusive as 
to whether the children’s asylum, as an institution separate 
from the almshouse and located some blocks distant, was estab¬ 
lished in 1820 or even at some earlier date, or as late as 1828. 
We do know, however, that in 1835 the children’s asylum and 
the almshouse were sold, and both children and adults were 
removed to the new buildings located in the town of Blockley 
(now part of Philadelphia), and known henceforth as the Block- 
ley almshouse. The children were placed in the east end of the 
northwestern range of buildings. 

1 History and reminiscences of the Philadelphia almshouse and hospital. 
Philadelphia, 1890, pp. 128-29. 



DESTITUTE, NEGLECTED AND DELINQUENT CHILDREN 21 

From Dr. Alfred Stille’s reminiscences of the Philadelphia 
hospital we learn something of the condition of the children 
in this institution. Dr. Still was a resident physician of the 
institution in its earliest days, and had special charge of the 
children’s asylum. He says: “A hundred or more children 
were sheltered there on their way to the early grave to which 
most of them were destined. Illegitimate and other outcasts 
formed the majority, and ophthalmia, that curse of children’s 
asylums, made of them a sore-eyed, puny group most pitiable 
to see. I soon became convinced of the causes that produced 
the crippling and mortality of these outcasts and waifs. I 
pointed out to the committee of the board how the disease was 
disseminated by the children washing in the same basins and 
using the same towels, and, it was maintained, by their having 
no shady places for exercise in the open air, and also by the 
insufficient food permitted them. * * * But, of course, 

the committee of the children’s asylum and the guardians knew 
better than I, and, at the time at least, nothing was done to 
correct this wrong.” 1 

So far as we can ascertain, the destitute children supported 
by the city of Philadelphia remained in Blockley almshouse 
until the passage of the children’s law of 1883. 

BOSTON. 

The city of Boston, which had built an almshouse in 1800, 
soon found it outgrown, and in 1822 a new structure was com¬ 
pleted in South Boston, known as the house of industry. This 
institution (both almshouse and prison, and receiving both 
children and adults) was placed under the charge of a body 
called the board of directors of the house of industry. Con¬ 
troversy arising between this body and the overseers of the 
poor, the functions of the overseers were by statute limited to 
the distribution of outdoor relief, and of certain trust funds. 
The custody of the pauper children of the almshouse was vested 
henceforth in the directors of the house of industry. Although 


1 Ibid., p. 58. 



22 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


the city established a reform school for juvenile offenders in 
1826 (located, unfortunately, in a portion of the buildings of 
the house of correction for adult offenders), no separate pro¬ 
vision for pauper children was made until much later. The 
need of removing the children from adult paupers was, how¬ 
ever, realized by the directors of the house of industry, for in 
1833 their annual report states that “ In closing these remarks 
the directors would respectfully urge the-necessity of removing 
the children from the adult paupers. Experience has shown 
that children brought up and indentured from almshouses often 
feel toward it a filial regard, and having been accustomed to 
see grown persons supported there for no other reason than 
that they are addicted to idleness and intemperance, again 
resort to it themselves rather than encounter the common 
difficulties of life.” The report for 1834 speaks of ten chil¬ 
dren at 'the almshouuse likely to remain permanent paupers 
(on account of idiocy, etc.), and 122 who will probably be 
indentured as they arrive at a suitable age, or be discharged to 
parents and, friends, should they become able to assume their 
support. In the same year, 1834, the city council established 
at the house of industry a building known as the “ children’s 
asylum.” The overseers of the poor appropriated the income 
from one of the principal trust funds under their care, the 
Boylston education fund, to the support of certain children 
in this institution, which henceforth was known as the Boylston 
school, or Boylston asylum, though remaining a part of the 
holtse of industry., 

Iiyi837 the house of reformation (juvenile reformatory) was 
transferred to a building erected, against the protest of the 
managers, near the house of correction and house of industry. 
It was at this time under a control separate from that of any 
other institution, but in 1841 the city council made it a part 
of the house of industry, placing it under the control of the 
board of directors of the latter institution? The destitute boys 
who had been in the Boylston school or asylum were trans- 


DESTITUTE, NEGLECTED AND DELINQUENT CHILDREN 23 

ferred to a wing of the house of reformation building, and 
placed under the officers of the latter institution, though they 
were kept “ quite separate.” Provision was thus made for a 
portion of the pauper children somewhat apart from the adult 
paupers and criminals, but in the same building with juvenile 
offenders. 

In 1849, a l ar ge building was erected on Deer island, and 
thither were removed the inmates of the house of industry — 
adult prisoners, adult paupers, and juvenile paupers, except 
the boys over six years of age who remained in one wing of 
the house of reformation for juvenile offenders in South Bos¬ 
ton. This institution also was removed to Deer island in 1858. 
Presumably the pauper children were in separate buildings 
on Deer island, for the report of 1853 speaks of two schools 
on Deer island, in one of which were 70 girls and small boys, 
and in the other 116 older boys. There were also 131 boys 
in the Boylston school, or juvenile pauper wing of the house 
of reformation building, making a total of 317 indoor juvenile 
paupers. The next year, 1854, 214 children were reported at 
Deer island, and 59 “ at nurse.” 

No further radical changes occurred until after 1875. At 
the close of the first three-quarters of a century, therefore, 
Boston provided for its destitute and neglected children in 
buildings on Deer island which were under the control of the 
almshouse authorities, and practically formed a part of that 
institution. 

CHARLESTON. 

The history of the Charleston orphan house, a strictly muni¬ 
cipal institution, from 1790A0 the present, has been in every 
way creditable to that city. The institution still stands on 
the site of the original building erected in 1794. It has received 
a number of bequests and donations from private citizens, so 
that about half of its present income is derived from this source, 
and half from the city treasury. The first kindergarten in 


24 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


Charleston was established at the orphan house in 1877. The 
government of the institution is vested in ten commissioners 
appointed by the city council. 

Notwithstanding the success of the Charleston orphan house, 
few persons, if any, will dissent from the statement that the 
direct care of destitute children by American municipalities 
prior to 1875 was, as a rule, a pitiful failure. 

STATE CHARGES OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

In the meantime, the State of Massachusetts, which, since 
about 1793, had reimbursed the various towns and cities for 
the care of the “ unsettled poor,” had made its own provision 
for this class by establishing, in 1851-52, three State alms¬ 
houses, at Tewksbury, Bridgewater, and Monson. At each of 
these, children, as well as adults, were received. In 1855, an 
act was passed requiring the removal of all children from 
Bridgewater and Tewksbury to Monson, but through the influ¬ 
ence of the superintendents of the three institutions it was 
repealed the next year. By 1858 the population of these three 
institutions exceeded 2,500, of whom more than half were 
children. This population was described by the board of State 
charities as “ a motley collection of broken-backed, lame¬ 
legged, sore-eyed, helpless, and infirm human beings, with 
scarcely an adult that is able in body and mind.” We are 
informed that the children were packed like sardines in double 
cradles; were cared for by pauper inmates, and were indentured 
to people whose credentials cofild hardly have received a proper 
investigation at the hands of the overworked house officials. 
In 1863, the board of State charities was established, and was 
authorized to transfer inmates of any State almshouse to any 
other State almshouse. One of its first acts, in 1864, was to 
transfer the children from Bridgewater and Tewksbury to Mon¬ 
son. Subsequently, in 1866, the Monson institution was 
declared to be the State primary school, and thereafter the 
children were not to be designated as paupers. This was the 


DESTITUTE, NEGLECTED AND DELINQUENT CHILDREN 25 

first State institution for destitute children in the United States. 
In 1872, the almshouse department at Monson was abolished, 
though many adult paupers remained in the State primary 
school as helpers. The board of State charities engaged an 
agent to visit the children who had been indentured from the 
State almshouses and the State reform schools. This led to 
the establishment, in 1869, of a State visiting agency, to visit 
all children placed out from State institutions, and to visit and 
report upon the homes of applicants for children. The visiting 
agency was independent of any other State body, its executive 
officer being appointed by the governor, but it reported to the, 
board of State charities. It was also the duty of the visiting 
agent to attend trials of juvenile offenders, and, having investi¬ 
gated the circumstances, to advise the magistrates whether 
the children should be committed to a reform school, or to the 
custody of the board of State charities, by it to be placed in 
their own, or some other families, or temporarily in the State 
primary school at Monson, later on to be placed in a family, or, 
if they proved unmanageable, transferred to a reform school. 
Thus early were the essential features of flexibility and transfer 
from one institution to another, or to a family, according to 
the developments of the individual child, secured. By 1875, 
Massachusetts, so far as its State charges were concerned, had 
separated its juvenile from its adult paupers, and had estab¬ 
lished an adequate system of supervision of indentured children. 

Meanwhile, almshouses had been established by many 
smaller cities, and in some States by counties or towns. Per¬ 
haps the most complete statement of the methods of public 
care of the poor in the earlier part of the century is contained 
in the report of an investigation,, made by the then secretary 
of the State of New York, Hon. J. V. N. Yates, in 1823. 1 
This report includes not only a statement of the condition 
of the poor in each county and town in New York, but also 
a detailed report from nearly every other State in the Union. 

1 Assembly journal, 1824, pp. 386-400. Appendix published separately in 
assembly documents. Reprinted by State Board of Charities, 1900. 



26 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


The report from Brooklyn showed that there were thirteen 
boys and seven girls in the almshouse, and also thirteen men 
and twenty-one women. The training received by the chil¬ 
dren is perhaps suggested by the report of the Brooklyn offi¬ 
cial: “ It is indispensable that the children should be educated, 
but in some almshouses (as it is in ours at present) there may 
be none able to teach the children; and, on account of disorders 
incident to public places, it would be improper to send them 
to the public district school; the children must remain unedu¬ 
cated or some provision must be made to hire a teacher. 
Would it not be right to give the almshouse a particular demand 
on the school fund?” In Albany, of 126 paupers in the alms¬ 
house in 1823, forty-six were children under the age of seven 
years. 

The general conclusion reached by Mr. Yates was that 
outdoor relief was harmful, and that the building of county 
almshouses would solve most of the difficulties connected with 
public relief. The report stated that “ The education and 
morals of the children of paupers (except in almshouses) are 
almost wholly neglected. They grow up in filth, idleness, and 
disease, and many become early candidates for the prison or 
the grave. The evidence on this head is too voluminous for 
reference ” (page 393). 

Again, in summing up the situation, the report states: 
“ Most of the children of paupers out of an almshouse are not 
only brought up in ignorance and idleness, but their health is 
precarious, and they frequently die prematurely. The reverse 
is the case in an almshouse. Their health and morals are 
alike improved and secured, and besides they receive an edu¬ 
cation to fit them for future usefulness ” (page 81). 

It was recommended that in every county there should be 
established one or more houses of employment, in which pau¬ 
pers were to be maintained and employed, and their children 
to be carefully instructed, and at suitable ages to be put out 
to some useful business or trade (page 395). 


DESTITUTE, NEGLECTED AND DELINQUENT CHILDREN 27 

The report received favorable consideration, and led to the 
passage of the law of 1824, which established the county alms¬ 
house system in New York. 

The rapidly developing central and western States gener¬ 
ally adopted systems of poor relief similar to those of New 
York and Pennsylvania, though the contract and farming-out 
plans seem to have found small place in those States. The 
town overseers generally were authorized to give temporary 
outdoor relief, but permanent outdoor relief, if given, and the 
almshouses, were administered by the county authorities. 

It gradually became evident to thoughtful observers that 
the high hopes of Secretary Yates, expressed in his otherwise 
admirable report of 1824, that in almshouses the children of 
paupers would be trained and taught to be useful, and thus be¬ 
come desirable members of society, were not to be fulfilled. 
Miss^porothea Dixfin her report of her visitation of the alms¬ 
houses of New York in 1844, said: “They do not guard 
against the indiscriminate association of the children with the 
adult poor. The education of these children, with rare excep¬ 
tions, is conducted on a very defective plan. The almshouse 
schools, so far as I have learned from frequent inquiries, are not 
inspected by official persons, who visit and examine the other 
schools of the county.” 

In 1856, a select committee appointed by the New York 
senate made a careful report on the public charities of that 
State. The condition of the almshouses generally was unspar¬ 
ingly condemned, and especially their harmful effects upon the 
children. “ The committee are forced to say that it is a great 
public reproach that they (the children) should be permitted 
to remain in the poorhouses. As they are now mismanaged, 
they are for the young the worst possible nurseries.” From 
this time on, the conviction slowly spread that poorhouses were 
not good places for children to grow up in. In the fullness 
of time, almost twenty years after the above report was sub¬ 
mitted by the senate committee, legislation began to be secured 
prohibiting the retention of children in almshouses. 


28 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


INDENTURE. 

The indenture system was a very important part of the pro¬ 
vision for destitute children during the first three-quarters of 
the century. The statutes of many States contained elaborate 
provision with regard to the indenturing of children. Some of 
these are interesting. The Massachusetts act of 1793 directed 
that in indentures “ Provision shall be made for instructing the 
male children to read, write and cipher,” and “ For such other 
instruction, benefit, and allowance either within or at the end 
of the term, as to the overseers may seem fit and reasonable ”— 
a degree of flexibility and adaptiveness to individual cases that 
has sometimes been lacking in more modern legislation. In 
Maryland in 1793 an act was passed “ For the better regula¬ 
tion of apprentices,” indicating that there had been earlier 
legislation upon the subject. The preamble recited: “ Whereas, 
it has been found by experience that poor children, orphans, 
and illegitimate, for want of some efficient system have been 
left destitute of support and have become useless or depraved 
members of society; and, Whereas it would greatly conduce to 
the good of the public in general and of such children in par¬ 
ticular that necessary instruction in trades and useful arts 
should be afforded them; Therefore, etc.” The justices of the 
orphans’ courts were authorized to bind out orphans, “ and 
such children as are suffering through the extreme indigence 
or poverty of their parents, also, the children of beggars, and 
also illegitimate children, and the children of persons 
out of this State where a sufficient sustenance is not 
afforded.” ^Trustees of the poor in the various counties 
were authorized to bind out children under their care in 
the poorhouses, preference being given to tradesmen and 
mechanics. In 1826, the act was amended so as to authorize 
the binding out of children who were found begging upon the 
streets of the city of Baltimore. The indenture system was 
authorized by law in the territory of Indiana in 1807. The 


DESTITUTE, NEGLECTED AND DELINQUENT CHILDREN 29 

annual message of the mayor of the city of New York for the 
year 1840 states that 349 children had been bound out during 
the preceding year. 

The old-fashioned indenture or apprentice system passed 
largely into disuse, if not into disrepute, by 1875. It is clearly 
not in harmony with the spirit of these later times to “ bind ” 
any one to serve another person for a definite term of years. 
The bound child is often alluded to as typifying loneliness, 
neglect, overwork, and a consciousness of being held in low 
esteem. 

It is probable, however, that as the apprentice system as a 
whole passed away with the profound changes that occurred 
in industrial conditions, the indenturing of children also under¬ 
went a change. The value of the instruction received from 
the “ masters ” became less and the value of the services ren¬ 
dered by the children increased. In its worst forms, and 
especially in some localities, certain features of the indenture 
system, particularly the recapture of apprentices who ran away, 
painfully remind one of human slavery. In fact, it has been 
seriously suggested that by the adoption of the constitutional 
amendment in 1865, forbidding “ involuntary servitude,” the 
indenture system became unconstitutional. In the early part 
of the century, however, when learning a trade was a matter 
of the highest importance, the system was undoubtedly some¬ 
thing quite different from what it became in later years. 
Though there were doubtless many cases of hardship from 
exacting or cruel masters, it is likely that the indentured chil¬ 
dren, as a whole, were more fortunate than those maintained 
by public outdoor relief or in almshouses. Miss Mary E. Wil¬ 
kins, in a collection of stories for children, tells a pretty story 
of a bound girl who was afterwards adopted, and gives an 
authentic copy of an indenture paper executed in Boston in 

I 753- 1 


1 “ The Pot of Gold.” Boston, 1893. 



30 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


III — PRIVATE CHARITIES FOR DESTITUTE CHIL¬ 
DREN: 1801-1875. 

Though there has been throughout the century a steady 
growth in the number and importance of children’s institutions 
founded from philanthropic motives and supported by the gifts 
of the generous, it seems best to divide their history into two 
chapters-— 1801 to 1875, and 1875 to the close of the century. 
The establishment of public systems of child-saving work in 
various States, in the decade 1870-1880, and the enactment of 
laws for the removal of children from almshouses, changed the 
conditions under which the private charities did their work, 
and in some States strongly affected their character and meth¬ 
ods. The work of the private agencies for the care of desti¬ 
tute children, after 1875, will therefore be taken up after we 
have considered the public systems adopted in various States, 
in place of caring for children in almshouses. 

Prior to the opening of the nineteenth century, agencies for 
the care of destitute children had been established by private - 
benevolence in the cities of New Orleans, Savannah, New 
York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Boston. The orphan asy¬ 
lum founded by Whitefield in Savannah in 1738 passed through 
many vicissitudes and gradually became an academy rather than 
an orphan home. It was Whitefield’s wish to have it become 
a college, but his majesty, George II, declined 'to grant a col¬ 
lege charter. The buildings were twice burned, and the acad¬ 
emy was closed in 1791- The five other organizations founded 
prior to 1801 have continued their work to the present. 

NEW YORK ORPHAN ASYLUM. , 

The first charity for children organized in the United States 
after 1800 was the New York orphan asylum society. Dur¬ 
ing the early days of the society for the relief of widows with 
small children, organized in 1797, the question often arose as 
to how the children of deceased widows should be cared for, 


DESTITUTE, NEGLECTED AND DELINQUENT CHILDREN 31 


the funds of the society not being available for their support. 
A copy of the life of Francke, with a history of his orphan 
house at Halle, fell into the hands of one of the managers of 
the society, and this led to the establishment of the orphan 
asylum society. 

The original constitution of the society, adopted in 1807, 
provided that admittance should be granted only to orphans, 
who should be educated, fed, and clothed at the expense of the 
society, and at the asylum. It was further provided that, “ As 
soon as the age and acquirements of orphans shall, in the opin¬ 
ion of the board of direction, render them capable of earning 
their living they must be bound out to some reputable person 
or families for such object and in such manner as the board 
shall approve. ,, 

In the absence of a public school system it was natural that 
the managers should feel that the admission of the children 
was necessary for their education, no less than for their main¬ 
tenance. It would have been very difficult at that time to 
secure the education of children placed out in free homes or 
boarded in families. The early reports of the society all indi¬ 
cate that the children were to be placed out as soon as they 
had received a fair education. The by-laws provided that 
“ The boys shall be bound to farmers or mechanics, the girls 
to respectable families. A book shall be kept at the asylum 
in whicti applicants for children shall insert their names, occu¬ 
pations, and references for character, which shall be laid before 
the board. At the monthly meeting a committee shall be 
appointed to make the necessary inquiries.” In the charter 
of the society, granted by the legislature in 1807, its purposes 
were declared to be “ protecting, relieving, and instructing 
orphan children. ,, 

The third annual report states that the plan of the society 
is, * To bind out the girls as servants from the time they can 
read and write until they are eighteen; and the boys, when 
equally instructed, are to be put out as servants till the age of 


32 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


fifteen, at which time they are to be returned to the trustees 
of the asylum, who will then bind them as apprentices to virtu¬ 
ous mechanics.” 

Before the society was two years old, finding itself encum¬ 
bered with debt, it applied to the State legislature for assist¬ 
ance from the public treasury, an unfortunate example that 
has been very generally followed by New York children’s insti¬ 
tutions from that day to this. The legislature responded by 
extending the grant of a lottery which they had previously 
made to the board of health, upon condition that $5,000 of the 
proceeds should be paid to the orphan asylum society. The sum 
of $5,000 was received from the proceeds of this lottery in 
1815, but meanwhile, in 1811, the legislature granted the soci¬ 
ety an annual contribution of $500, 'to be paid from the duties 
on auction sales, a sum which the society received each year 
until 1853. 

The early reports of the society indicate that a considerable 
number of their children were received directly from the alms¬ 
house. The society often stated with pride that no orphan 
child had ever been refused admission to the institution. The 
twelfth report states that in the month of February eleven 
orphan children were received from the New York almshouse, 
and adds that “ The honorable, the corporation, have never 
been prevailed upon to extend even a small share of that pat¬ 
ronage to this society which it might seem to claim from them, 
and for which they have been repeatedly solicited.” An inter¬ 
esting glimpse of the life of the children in the asylum is afforded 
by the fourteenth annual report, which informs us that “ The 
boys have been employed in reading, writing, arithmetic, and 
committing scripture to memory, thirty-four boys having 
learned from 150 to 1,500 verses each, and one has committed 
the whole of the New Testament. For health and recreation 
they have, under the direction of the superintendent, cultivated 
the ground owned or rented by the society.” 


DESTITUTE, NEGLECTED AND DELINQUENT CHILDREN 33 

The sixteenth annual report, dated April, 1822, stated that 
since the commencement of the society there had been received 
446 children, of whom 243 had been placed with respectable 
employers, a number were out on trial, 15 had died, and 152 
remained in the asylum. 

BALTIMORE ORPHAN ASYLUM. 

A year after the New York orphan asylum was organized, a 
society in Baltimore, known as the female orphaline charity 
school, purchased a house and added to its educational work 
the care and maintenance of destitute children. It had been 
established in 1778 as the female humane associated charity 
school. Although the care of children was undertaken in 
addition to their education in 1807, the name of the institu¬ 
tion was not changed until 1827, when it became the Baltimore 
female orphan asylum, the name being again changed, in 1846, 
to the Baltimore orphan asylum. The act of incorporation 
of 1807 provided that, “ For the orderly management of said 
school, there shall be annually appointed nine discreet female 
characters. * * * ” The directors were also given power 

to bind out children placed in the school. 

BOSTON. 

In 1813, the Boston asylum for indigent boys was organized, 
for the purpose of “ relieving, instructing, and employing indi¬ 
gent boys.” In 1835, the institution was consolidated with 
the Boston farm school society, which two years before had 
purchased Thompson’s island, in Boston harbor, and opened 
an institution “ for the education and reformation of boys who 
from loss of parents or other causes were exposed to extra¬ 
ordinary temptations.” 

OTHER INSTITUTIONS. 

In 1814, the orphan society, of Philadelphia, apparently 
modeled somewhat after the New York and Baltimore societies, 
was organized “To protect, relieve, support, and instruct 

3 


34 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


orphan children.” In the following year, under the leadership 
of the wife of President Madison, the Washington city orphan 
asylum was established at the national capital. This institution 
was dependent upon private generosity, its only aid from public 
sources being a grant of land valued at $10,000 in 1832. The 
protestant orphan asylum, of Natchez, Miss., was organized in 
1816. The following year, three institutions were established — 
the Poydras female orphan asylum, endowed by Julien Poydras, 
in New Orleans; St. Mary’s female orphan asylum, of Balti¬ 
more, and the Roman Catholic Orphan Asylum Society in 
New York city, the latter two being the first catholic institu¬ 
tions in these cities. 

LIST OF children’s CHARITIES. 

The writer has not found it possible to prepare a complete 
list of the private institutions for children established in the 
United States. Less than half of the States have State boards 
of charities, and even the reports of most of these boards give 
little information concerning private institutions. In several 
of the largest cities directories of charities are published by the 
charity organization societies. The report on crime, pauper¬ 
ism, and benevolence forming a part of the eleventh census 
gives in part ii, pages 894-936, a list of benevolent institutions 
in each State. They are not classified, however, orphan 
asylums, hospitals, homes for the aged, and other charities be¬ 
ing grouped in one table. Nor is there any list of the institu- 
tioned discontinued prior to 1890. From all of the sources 
indicated above, and by special correspondence, a table has 
been prepared, which is believed to be reasonably complete, 
showing the dates of the organization of private charities for 
children during the first half of the century. The writer would 
be grateful for any corrections to the list, which follows: 

1727. Orphan asylum of Ursuline convent, New Orleans. 

1738. Bethesda orphan house, Savannah. 

1797. Society for the relief of widows and small children. New York. 

1798. St. Joseph’s female orphan asylum, R. C., Philadelphia. 

1799. St. Paul’s orphanage, P. E., Baltimore. % 


DESTITUTE, NEGLECTED AND DELINQUENT CHILDREN 35 

1800. Boston (female) orphan asylum. 

1806. Orphan asylum society, New York. 

1807. Orphan asylum, Baltimore. 

1813. Boston asylum for indigent boys. 

1814. Orphan asylum of Philadelphia. 

1815. Washington city orphan asylum, Washington, D. C. 

1816. Protestant orphan asylum, Natchez. 

1817. St. Mary’s female orphan asylum, Baltimore. 

1817. Roman catholic orphan* asylum, New York. 

1817. Poydras female orphan asylum. New Orleans. 

1822. Association for the care of colored orphans, Philadelphia. 

1824. Asylum for destitute orphan boys, New Orleans. 

1826. Roman catholic orphan asylum, Brooklyn. 

1828. Female orphan asylum, Portland, Me. 

1829. St. John’s orphan asylum, R. C., Philadelphia. 

1830. Orphan asylum, Utica. 

1831. St. Vincent’s orphan asylum, R. C., Boston. 

1831. Orphan asylum, Albany. 

1831. St. Vincent’s female orphan asylum, R. C., Washington, D. C. 

1831. Leake and Watts orphan asylum, New York. 

1832. Farm school society, Boston. 

1833. Orphan asylum, New Haven. 

1833. Orphan asylum, Cincinnati. 

1833. Orphan asylum society, Brooklyn. 

1833. Children’s friend society, Boston. 

1833. Infant school and children’s home association (now the Hunt 
asylum for destitute children), Boston. 

1834. St. John’s female orphan asylum, R. C., Utica. 

1835. Children’s friend society, Providence. 

1835. Society for half-orphan and destitute children, New York. 

1835. Orphan asylum, Troy. 

1835. Nickerson home for children, Boston. 

1836. Orphan asylum, Buffalo. 

1836. Colored orphan asylum. New York. 

1837. Foster home association, Philadelphia. 

1837. St. Aloysius orphan asylum, R. C., Bond Hill, Ohio. 

1838. Catholic male orphan asylum, Mobile. 

1838. Shelter for colored children. Providence. 

1838. Orphan asylum, Rochester. 

1839. Protestant orphan asylum, Mobile. 

1839. Children’s home, Bangor, Me. 

1840. St. Vincent de Paul male orphan asylum, R. C., Baltimore. 

1840. Christ church asylum for female children, Baltimore. 

1841. Southern home for destitute children, Philadelphia. 

1843. New orphan asylum for colored youths, Avondale, Ohio. 

1844. Male orphan asylum, Richmond, Va. 

1845. St. Mary’s home, R. C., Savannah. 

1845. St. Peter’s asylum, P. E., Baltimore. 


3 ^ 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


1845. Onondaga county orphan asylum, Syracuse. 

1845. St. Patrick’s orphan asylum, R. C., Rochester. 

1845. Protestant orphan asylum, Nashville. 

1845. St. Vincent’s orphan asylum, R. C., Albany. 

1845. Manual labor school for indigent boys, Baltimore. 

1846. Hudson orphan and relief association, Hudson, N. Y. 

1846. Institution of mercy, R. C., New York. 

1846. Society for the relief of destitute children of seamen, New York. 

1847. Temporary home for destitute (now the Gwynne temporary home 
for children), Boston. 

1847. Orphan house, Poughkeepsie, N. Y. 

1847. St. Mary’s orphan asylum, R. C., Natchez. 

1848. Protestant foster home, Newark. 

1848. Orphan asylum, Newark. 

1848. Jefferson county orphan asylum, Watertown, N. Y. 

1848. St. Vincent’s female orphan asylum, R. C., Buffalo. 

1848. St. Patrick’s orphan asylum, R. C., Baltimore. 

1848. Protestant home for orphan girls, Baton Rouge. 

1848. Children’s friend society, Worcester. 

1849. Children’s mission to children of the destitute, Boston. 

1849. German protestant orphan asylum, Cincinnati. s 

1849. St. Joseph’s male orphan asylum, R. C., Buffalo. 

1849. Orphan asylum, Chicago, Ill. 

1849. Kentucky female orphan asylum, Midway, Ky. 

1850. St. Vincent’s asylum, R. C., San Rafael, Cal. 

1850. Five points house of industry, New York. 

The various periods may be grouped as follows: 


Founded prior to 1801. 6 

Founded 1801 to 1811. 2 

Founded 1811 to 1821. 7 

Founded 1821 to 1831 . 6 

Founded 1831 to 1841. 26 

Founded 1841 to 1851. 30 


77 


LATER EXPANSION. 

New York had already begun to show its tendency to mul¬ 
tiply institutions, under the influence of aid from the public 
treasury. With one-seventh of the population of the country, 
the State included two-sevenths of the institutions founded 
prior to 1851. It is not possible to trace the establishment of 
new institutions after 1850 in detail. It may be stated that 
everywhere they increased in numbers and in diversity of char- 








DESTITUTE, NEGLECTED AND DELINQUENT CHILDREN 37 

acter and objects. Not including some central and western 
States, from which returns have not been received, forty-seven 
new institutions were organized in the fifties, seventy-nine in 
the sixties (notwithstanding the civil war), and twenty-one in 
the first half of the seventies. 

VARIOUS TYPES OF INSTITUTIONS. 

In the list of children’s charities founded prior to 1850, there 
are several different types of institutions. One type was that 
founded by a group of people who were not necessarily asso¬ 
ciated in any other organization, and whose activities in this 
direction seemed to be prompted solely by philanthropic im¬ 
pulses. Usually, however, it happened that these persons 
either were members of protestant churches or of none. Some 
form of religious observance, undenominational, but non¬ 
catholic, was usually provided for the children. In name, or¬ 
ganization, and management the institution was not connected 
with any church organization. This type, well represented by 
the orphan asylum societies, would usually regard itself as non¬ 
sectarian, but by members of other than protestant churches 
it would be called sectarian and protestant. 

Another type was the orphan asylum organized as a dis¬ 
tinctively religious institution, largely under the control of 
the church authorities, and usually under the immediate man¬ 
agement of a religious order. Each form of organization has 
its peculiar merits and its disadvantages, but the reader who 
misses the difference between the two points of view above set 
forth will fail to understand some of the most powerful in¬ 
fluences in the development of child-saving agencies in the 
United States. 

A third type of institution appeared later, the endowed or¬ 
phan asylum, established usually by a bequest, and managed 
as a trust by a board of directors. Such were the Poydras 
female orphan asylum in New Orleans, the Leake and Watts 
orphan asylum in New York, Girard college in Philadelphia, 


38 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


the McDonough school near Baltimore, and many others. 
Among these, Girard college is worthy of special mention. 
Stephen Girard died in 1831 leaving property then worth about 
$6,000,000 for the establishment of a college for orphans. 
Evidently he had both charitable and educational objects in 
mind, for in his will he specified that, “ As many poor white 
male orphans between the ages of six and ten years as the said 
income shall be adequate to maintain shall be introduced into 
the college as soon as possible.” The term male orphan has 
been construed to mean any fatherless boy whose mother has 
not remarried. It was Mr. Girard’s wish that boys who proved 
worthy should be kept until at least fourteen years of age, 
but not after reaching the age of eighteen. Unruly boys were 
to be dismissed. Buildings costing nearly $3,000,000 were 
completed in 1847. The endowment has greatly increased in 
value, the present value of property of the institution being 
estimated at $24,000,000, and yielding an annual net income 
of nearly $1,000,000. The institution opened with 100 boys 
on January 1, 1848, and the number steadily increased until 
on December 31, 1898, there were 1,934 pupils. The boys are 
taught all branches that are suitable for children of their ages. 
It is, of course, not a college in any true sense of the term, but 
is intended to fit boys for commercial and mechanical pursuits. 
The estate, which was left to the care of the mayor, aldermen, 
and citizens of Philadelphia, is administered by the board of 
city trusts, appointed by the supreme court of Pennsylvania 
and the city courts of Philadelphia. The grounds are sur¬ 
rounded by a high stone wall, and in many respects, notwith¬ 
standing the beauty of the buildings and grounds, the college 
has a decidedly institutional appearance. The class of boys 
received includes many who otherwise would probably be ad¬ 
mitted to orphan asylums and such institutions, with a pro¬ 
portion of those whose parents are in rather better circum¬ 
stances. 


DESTITUTE, NEGLECTED AND DELINQUENT CHILDREN 39 

Its beneficence is not to be questioned: but when it is re¬ 
membered that this institution has a larger endowment than 
any university in the land, it is to be questioned whether its 
founder did wisely in yoking together free education and free 
maintenance. As an educational agency, even if it were to 
give the same sort of education as at present, it certainly could 
reach a very much larger number who need such instruction 
if it were simply a series of day schools. On the other hand, 
solely as a charity, it could be much more effective if freed 
from the restrictions imposed by the will, in view of the educa¬ 
tional features of the proposed college. On the whole, it is 
to be feared that the name of its founder must be added to 
the already long list of those who have erred in trying to foresee 
the social needs of the future, and in tying up vast estates to 
uses which soon fail to meet the most serious needs of the 
community. Girard college is the largest and most important 
endowed children’s institution in the United States, and proba¬ 
bly in the world, but the example of Stephen Girard is not one 
to be followed by wise philanthropists. 

SPECIAL CLASSES. 

Institutions for special classes of children also appeared. 
The Philadelphia association for the care of colored orphans 
was organized by the society of friends in 1822, and was fol¬ 
lowed by similar institutions in Providence in 1835, in New 
York in 1836, in Avondale, near Cincinnati, in 1843, a second 
in Philadelphia in 1855, and one in Brooklyn in 1866. Boston 
established no separate institutions for colored children, but 
it is likely that then, as now, both colored and white children 
were received in many of her asylums. The institutions for 
colored children appeared in those localities in which the influ¬ 
ence of the quakers, or friends, was strong. 

About 1845 a day school, established by the society of 
friends, for the children on the Cattaraugus Indian reservation 
near Buffalo, New York, was reorganized as an asylum for 


40 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


orphan and destitute Indian children. For ten years it was 
supported by voluntary contributions, but from 1855 it re¬ 
ceived subsidies from the State. When State subsidies were 
abolished in 1875, it was reorganized as a State institution, 
and is to-day the only State institution in New York for the 
care of destitute children. 

Another institution for a special class of inmates was the 
home for children of destitute seamen in the city and port of 
New York, established on Staten island in 1846. 

In founding children’s institutions of a distinctly religious 
character, the catholics easily took the lead. Of the seventy- 
seven institutions established prior to 1851, twenty-one were 
under catholic auspices. In the fifties, a number of new in¬ 
stitutions were added to the list of those under the auspices of 
the protestant episcopal church — the orphans’ home and 
asylum of the protestant episcopal church in New York city in 
1851, the church charity foundation of Long Island in the same 
year, the charity foundation of the protestant episcopal church 
in the city of Buffalo in 1858, the church home for orphan and 
destitute children in Boston in 1855, the church home for 
children An Philadelphia in 1856. The lutherans established 
the lutheran orphan home in Philadelphia in 1859, the evan¬ 
gelical lutheran St. John orphan home in Buffalo in 1864, the 
Wartburg farm school in New York city in 1866, and the Mar¬ 
tin Luther orphan home in Boston in 1871. 

The first jewish institution for children was probably the 
jewish orphans’ home in New Orleans, established in 1856. 
This was followed by the jewish foster home in Philadelphia in 
the same year, the New York hebrew orphan asylum in i860, 
the orphans’ guardians society in Philadelphia in 1863, the 
Pacific hebrew orphan asylum in San Francisco in 1870, the 
hebrew orphan asylum in Baltimore in 1872, and others. 1 


1 See article on “Jewish child-saving in the United States.” Proceed¬ 
ings of the national conference of charities and correction, 1897, p, 108. 



DESTITUTE, NEGLECTED AND DELINQUENT CHILDREN 41 


In 1851 a new type of institution appeared in the New York 
juvenile asylum, organized through the efforts of the associa¬ 
tion for improving the condition of the poor, as the house of 
refuge had been organized a quarter of a century before, by 
the society for the prevention of pauperism. The juvenile 
asylum aimed to receive not simply destitute children, but also 
children who were neglected and in danger of moral ruin, and 
wayward children. It received children upon surrender by 
parents, and also upon commitment by the courts. It com¬ 
bined, in our opinion unfortunately, the functions of a home 
for destitute children, a training school for neglected children, 
and a juvenile reformatory. From the first it received sub¬ 
stantial aid from public funds, both city and State. 

INFANTS. 

Institutions for infants, combining the functions of ma¬ 
ternity hospitals, infants’ hospitals, and foundling asylums, 
appeared in 'the fifties^ St. Mary’s asylum for widows, 
foundlings, and infants was incorporated in 1852, but did not 
begin work until somewhat later. The nursery and child’s 
hospital was established in New York city in 1854, and the 
New York infant asylum in 1865. The Massachusetts infant 
asylum was organized in 1867, the foundlings’ asylum of the 
sisters of charity in New York in 1869, and the Philadelphia 
home for infants in 1871. Finding the mortality among babies 
cared for in institutions in cities very high, these institutions 
either established country branches, or placed the younger 
children at board in families. The sisters of charity in New 
York, the Massachusetts infant asylum, and the nursery and 
child’s hospital adopted the latter plan, and the first and second 
still continue its use for large numbers of their children. The 
New York infant asylum and the nursery and child’s hospital 
have each established country branches, one in Westchester 
county and one on Staten island, in which their younger chil¬ 
dren are cared for. 


42 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


Temporary homes for children, as distinguished from orphan 
asylums in which the residence was more permanent, were 
established in Boston in 1847, an d in Philadelphia in 1856. The 
sheltering arms, established in New York city in 1864, was 
designed especially for children of whom one or both parents 
are living, and are able to contribute towards the children’s 
support. 

In 1863 the New York catholic protectory was organized 
somewhat on the lines of the New York juvenile asylum. It 
received both boys and girls of all ages from two to sixteen 
years, and all classes of destitute, neglected, and delinquent 
children. It received substantial aid from the city and State 
for the erection of buildings, and the cost of maintenance was, 
from the first, borne largely, and in later years wholly, by the 
city through a per capita grant made under a mandate of the 
State legislature. This institution grew with great rapidity, 
having 1,944 inmates on October 1, 1875, an< ^ ^ ias si nce become 
the largest children’s institution in the United States, if not in 
the.world. A similar institution, but receiving boys only, was 
established near Buffalo in 1864. 

DISPOSAL OF OLDER CHILDREN. 

Most of the above-mentioned agencies made more or less use 
of indenture, adoption, or placing out of children. Many of 
the orphan asylums adopted a rule that boys should be bound 
out at the age of twelve and girls at the age of fourteen. In 
the earlier history of Girard college many boys, upon leaving 
the institution, were bound out to farmers. As a rule, the 
orphan asylums seemed to regard the placing-out system rather 
as a convenient means of disposing of older children than as an 
essential part of the plan by which they were to benefit home¬ 
less children. There is little evidence of any adequate inquiry 
into the circumstances of the persons receiving children, or of 
any system of subsequent oversight. The children, after leav¬ 
ing the doors of the institution, were in too large measure lost 


DESTITUTE, NEGLECTED AND DELINQUENT CHILDREN 43 

sight of. A few of the institutions, however, laid great stress 
upon the placing of orphan and permanently deserted children 
in families, and developed more or less satisfactory plans for 
finding homes for large 'numbers of children. Among such 
were the New York juvenile asylum (1851), the New England 
home for little wanderers (1865), and the New York foundling 
asylum (1869), of which sent numbers of children to homes 
in the western States. At the date of the establishment of 
many of the orphan asylums there was more reason for retain¬ 
ing children for considerable periods of time than in later years. 
The public-school systems had not yet been adopted, and it 
seemed necessary, in order to secure the proper education of 
orphan children, that they should be collected in institutions. 
With the establishment of public-school systems, not only in 
the cities, but throughout the rural districts, this necessity dis¬ 
appeared, though many institutions failed to recognize the 
changed conditions under which their work was carried on. 
This perhaps contributed to the fact that a new type of organi¬ 
zation appeared. 


CHILDREN’S AID SOCIETIES. 

Societies, known as children’s aid societies, were organized 
in New York in 1853, Baltimore in i860, Boston in 1865, 
Brooklyn in 1866, Buffalo in 1872, and Philadelphia in 1882. 

The New York society, organized through the efforts of the 
late Rev. Charles Loring Brace in 1853, addressed itself to the 
improvement of the condition of the poor children in New 
York in many ways; through the establishment of lodging- 
houses for newsboys and other homeless children; by day and 
evening schools for children who were not reached by the pub¬ 
lic-school system; by reading-rooms and religious meetings; 
and by sending homeless children to families in the country. 
The last of these plans is the only one which comes directly 
within the scope of this paper. This plan was, in brief, to send 
homeless children in groups of from twenty to forty to some 


44 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


point in the western States, where arrangements had been made 
for holding a large public meeting on the date of the arrival 
of the children. At this meeting, the work of the society was 
explained, and people were urged to receive these friendless 
children into their hearts and homes. A local committee had 
been appointed to pass upon applications, and to see that none 
but respectable people, able to give good homes to children, 
received them. 

In several important respects this plan differed from previous 
methods of placing out children by adoption or indenture. In 
selecting the territory offering the best opportunities for young 
people, even though at a great distance from New York city, 
in appealing to the humanity of the country people rather than 
to their business instincts, in taking the young children rather 
than the older ones, and in boldly asserting that the ordinary 
experiences of life in an ordinary family are a better prepara¬ 
tion for self-support and self-guidance than institutional train¬ 
ing — in these, and in other respects, the work challenges our 
admiration, for its boldness, its appreciation of the value of 
normal social forces, and its comprehensiveness. The children 
were received from the newsboys’ lodging-houses, from orphan 
and infant asylums, from almshouses, and directly from parents. 
The results have undoubtedly justified the bold plans and large 
hopes of its founders. While it might be desired that fuller 
records had been kept and a somewhat more rigid supervision 
exercised, there is satisfactory evidence that a very large pro¬ 
portion of the children sent out have become integral and useful 
parts of the growing western communities. A number have 
attained considerable eminence in the professions; several have 
held important positions of public trust, and one became a 
governor of a western State. We shall allude later to the work 
of the society after 1875. The statistics of children placed out 
have only recently been separated from those of families for 
whom transportation to a rural point was given, and for older 
boys for whose employment work was provided near New York 


DESTITUTE, NEGLECTED AND DELINQUENT CHILDREN 45 

city. The number placed in families averaged almost exactly 
one thousand per year for the twenty years 1854-75. It is 
probably not too much to say that this work affected the child 
problem of New York cityj for the twenty years prior to 1875,^ 
more strongly and beneficently than any other one factor. 

An interesting though not extensive work is that of the or¬ 
phans’ guardians of Philadelphia (1863). The object of this 
society is to rear and educate hebrew orphans by boarding 
them with a relative, or with some other worthy family, a mem¬ 
ber of the board of directors becoming the legal guardian of 
the child. 

The children’s aid society of Baltimore was founded in i860 
for the purpose of finding homes for destitute children. Ninety- 
eight children were placed in families during the first year. At 
first, only children from ten to fifteen years of age were re¬ 
ceived. Many of the children were received from the courts 
and magistrates, and on the ground that it was “ an important 
adjunct to the police department,” the city council appro¬ 
priated to the society from $500 to $1,000 annually; the re¬ 
mainder was received from private contributions. In 1871 Mr. 
Henry Watson bequeathed $100,000 to the society, which 
thereafter was known as the Henry Watson children’s aid 
society. No further contributions of public or private funds 
were solicited. The placing-out work was not largely in¬ 
creased, but a sewing school, a boarding home for working 
girls, and a lodging-house for adults and children were added 
to the placing-out department. 

The Boston children’s aid society was organized in 1863. 
Its purpose, according to the act of incorporation of 1865, was 
that of “ providing temporary homes for vagrant, destitute, 
and exposed children, and those under criminal prosecution, of 
tender age, in Boston and its vicinity, and of providing for 
them such other or further relief as may be advisable to rescue 
them from moral ruin.” Apparently, the founders of the 
society were not quite clear as to just how they would care for 


46 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


their children. Section 4 of the charter provided with admir¬ 
able caution that “ The directors shall have authority, at their 
discretion, to receive into their asylum or care such children of 
tender age as they may deem suitable objects of the charity 
intended by this institution.” The directors were also given 
power to bind out children “ in virtuous families,” and to con¬ 
sent to their adoption. The first work of the society was the 
establishment of a temporary home in the country, known as 
Pine farm. The first annual report of the society is largely a 
description of this farm school, although the sentiment is ex¬ 
pressed several times that it is the purpose of the society to 
maintain “ an oversight and influence ” over the boys after 
they leave the farm. Fifty-two boys were received the first 
year, and twenty-three were discharged, of whom eight were 
placed in families in the country. In the third annual report of 
the society we find the sentiment expressed by those in charge 
of the farm school that it is difficult to find places in families 
for the younger boys. The wish is expressed “ that the society 
would authorize us to try the plan of paying moderate board 
in families in which we can trust them and thus enable us to 
benefit a larger number.” The reports of the society prior to 
1875 te U interestingly of the work of an admirable temporary 
home or training-school in the country, but give comparatively 
little promise of the splendid development of preventive work 
and of boarding out and placing out, carried on by the society 
in more recent years. 

The children’s aid societies organized in Brooklyn in 1866, 
and in Buffalo in 1872, devoted their energies rather to the 
maintenance of lodging-houses, newsboys’ homes, and indus¬ 
trial schools, than to the placing out of children. The benefi¬ 
cent work of the children’s aid society of Pennsylvania was not 
begun until 1882, and will be considered in a subsequent chap¬ 
ter, as will also be that of the children’s home societies. 


DESTITUTE, NEGLECTED AND DELINQUENT CHILDREN 47 


IV— REMOVAL of children from alms¬ 
houses. 

In tracing the public care of children from 1801 to 1875, we 
noted the scathing arraignment of the care of children in alms¬ 
houses by the select committee of the New York senate in 
1856. From that time on the conviction spread that the col¬ 
lection of children in almshouses had been a terrible mistake. 
Ten years later, the first of a series of laws for the removal of 
children from almshouses was passed. In some cases a different 
system of caring for children who were public charges was 
created; in other States, laws were passed prohibiting the send¬ 
ing of children to almshouses, or their retention therein for 
longer than a certain period, usually thirty, sixty, or ninety 
days, leaving the local authorities to make such other pro¬ 
vision for the children as they might elect. In briefest out¬ 
line, these laws were as follows: 

In 1866 Ohio passed a law authorizing the establishment of 
county children’s homes, after a favorable vote by the people 
in each case, to be supported by taxation and managed by 
b f ards of trustees appointed by the county commissioners. 
4^hree such homes were established between 1866 and 1870; 
six during the decade 1870-80; thirty-three between 1880 and 
1890; and four since 1890. In 1883 a supplementary law was 
passed prohibiting the retention of children over three years 
of age in poorhouses, unless separated from the adult paupers. 
For many years the enforcement of the law was extremely in¬ 
adequate. In 1898 the age to which children may be kept in 
almshouses was reduced from three years to one year. 

Massachusetts abolished the almshouse department at the 
State primary school at Monson in 1872, and thus separated 
the destitute children from adults, so far as State charges were 
concerned. In 1879 a law was passed requiring overseers of 
the poor of cities to place destitute children over four years of 
age in families or asylums and to provide for their maintenance. 


48 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


In 1887 it was provided that whenever the overseers of any 
city, except Boston, failed to comply with this law, the State 
board of lunacy and charity should provide for the children at 
the expense of such cities. In 1893 the laws of 1879 and 1887 
were amended so as to relate to towns as well as cities. 

Michigan was the first State to treat the matter in a really 
comprehensive, effective manner. In 1869 a commission, ap¬ 
pointed by the governor, made an exhaustive inquiry into the 
condition of children in the county poorhouses, and the methods 
of caring for such children in other States. The report of the 
commission, submitted in 1871, stated that there were about 
600 children under sixteen years of age in poorhouses in Michi¬ 
gan. The degrading influences of such surroundings were 
pointed out, and action for the removal of the children was 
suggested. The commission suggested the adoption of one of 
three plans: first, a State placing-out agency by which de¬ 
pendent children should be removed from the county poor¬ 
houses and placed directly in private families; second, the re¬ 
moval of the children to private orphan asylums to be sup¬ 
ported therein at State expense; third, the establishment of a 
State primary school “ after the plan of that at Monson, Mass.” 
The commission appeared to favor the second plan, but the 
legislature proved to be more radical. It disregarded the many 
requests that were made for State aid to private institutions, 
and passed a law creating a State public school for dependent 
children, to which all destitute children in the State who_Ayere 
public charges were to be removed, and from which they were 
to be placed out in families as soon as possible. The institution 
was opened at Coldwater, in May, 1874. N 

r In 1875 a law was enacted in New York, through the efforts 
of the State board of charities, supported by the State charities 
aid association and others, requiring the removal of all children 
over three years of age, not defective in body or mind, from 
poorhouses, and directing that they be placed in families or¬ 
phan asylums, or other appropriate institutions, arfd that the 


DESTITUTE, NEGLECTED AND DELINQUENT CHILDREN 49 

public authorities make provision for their maintenance. This 
legislation was the culmination of a movement extending over 
some eight years. The State board of charities, created in 
1867, found, on its first examination of the almshouses of the 
State in 1868, 2,231 children in these institutions, 1,222 being 
in county poorhouses and 1,009 in the children’s departments 
of the almshouses of New York city and Brooklyn. Efforts 
were made by this board and by other public-spirited citizens 
to induce the county boards of supervisors to make other pro¬ 
vision for the children, either by placing them in families or by 
sending them to children’s homes and paying their board. In 
some counties many of the children were, by one or both of 
these methods, refnoved from the poorhouses. Nevertheless, 
at the close of 1874 there were still 2,066 children in alms¬ 
houses. The number in county poorhouses had been reduced 
to 593 > but in New York city and Brooklyn it had risen to 
1,473. The law of 1875 created no machinery for placing out 
or otherwise providing for the children. The local authorities 
quite promptly complied with the law, and within two or three 
years the plan of supporting destitute children at public ex¬ 
pense in private institutions became the settled policy of the 
State. In 1878 the New York law was amended by reducing 
the age to which children may be retained in almshouses, from - 
three years to two years, and by abolishing the exemption of 
defective children. 

In 1878 Wisconsin passed a law requiring the removal of 
children from almshouses^ but made no other provision for 
them until eight years later, when, in ^885, it established a 
State public school for dependent children, following closely 
the lines of the Michigan system. 

In 1883 Pennsylvania enacted a law prohibiting- the retention 
of children between the ages of two and sixteen years, unless 
feeble-minded or defective, in poorhouses for a longer period 
tharusixty days. ^The county authorities, being left to make 
such provision for their children as they might choose, adopted 
4 


50 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


various plans. Most of the larger counties entered into co¬ 
operation with the children’s aid society of Pennsylvania, under 
whose care the children were boarded in families at the expense 
of the counties until permanent free homes were found for 
them. v — 

In 1883 Connecticut also passed a law directing the estab¬ 
lishment of a temporary home for children in each county, and 
prohibiting the retention of children over two years of age in 
almshouses. In 1895 a penalty for non-compliance with this 
law was provided. Unfortunately the law was amended in 
I897 so as to permit the retention of children under four years 
of age in almshouses. 

In 1885 Rhode Island established a State home and school 
for children, and in 1892 made mandatory the removal of all 
children from almshouses to the State home. 

In 1890 Maryland passed a law prohibiting the retention of 
children between the ages of three and sixteen years, unless 
mentally defective, in almshouses for a longer period than 
ninety days. The local authorities, as a rule, sent the children 
to private institutions, paying for their support. 

In 1895 New Hampshire passed a law prohibiting the reten¬ 
tion of children between the ages of three and fifteen, except 
the feeble-minded, in almshouses for a longer period than 
thirty days. The overseers of the poor and county commis¬ 
sioners were directed to place such children in orphan asylums 
or in private families. A State board of charities was created 
by the same statute, and was charged with the duty of enforc¬ 
ing this law. 

r_|n 1897 Indiana passed a law prohibiting the retention of all 
children between the ages of three and seventeen years in any 
poorhouse after January 1, 1898. A State placing-out agency) 
under the direction of the State board of charities, was created 
by the same statute to assist and promote the placing out of 
children from the various county homes. 


DESTITUTE, NEGLECTED AND DELINQUENT CHILDREN 51 

In 1899 New Jersey created a State board of children’s 
guardians, in which is vested the custody of all children who 
become public charges. The law also forbids the retention of 
children more than one year of age in almshouses for a longer 
period than thirty days. The children are to be boarded in 
private families until permanent homes can be found. 

The removal of children from almshouses is a lamentable 
illustration of the slowness with which such reforms proceed. 
Thirty-three years have passed since Ohio enacted the first 
law in the United States looking toward the removal of all 
children from almshouses, but as yet barely a dozen Spates — 
about one-fourth of the whole number — have followed her 
example and everf in these States the laws are not, in several 
cases, fully enforced. In 1897, and again in 1899, the Illinois 
legislature eliminated from pending bills relating to the care of 
children, a provision prohibiting their retention in almshouses. 
Connecticut, as noted above, took a backward step in 1897. 
These are exceptions, however, and the movement has steadily, 
though very slowly, gained in momentum, and such legislation 
will, beyond doubt, become more general and more stringent 
and will be better enforced as the years pass. 

The census of 1880 showed that the actual number of chil¬ 
dren in almshouses between two and sixteen years of age, in 
the United States, was 7,770. The earlier censuses did not give 
this item of information. The census of 1890 showed that the 
number had been reduced, during the preceding ten years, from 
7,770 to 4,987. Considering the increase of twenty-five per 
cent, in the general population, the decrease of thirty-six per 
cent? in the number of children in almshouses is not without 
encouragement. The number of children between two and 
sixteen years of age in almshouses to every 100,000 of the 
total population was reduced from fifteen in 1880 to eight in 
1890. Included in the total of 4,987 are large numbers of 
defective children, and also many children retained in so-called 
children’s asylums connected with almshouses, but in which 


52 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


the children are not immediately associated with adult; paupers, 
a plan which is just a little less objectionable than keeping* both 
classes in the same building. The statistics on this point in the 
census of 1900 will be awaited with interest. 

Contrary to the general opinion, the States in which there 
were still large numbers of children in almshouses in 1890 are 
not confined to the south. In fact, as shown by the following 
table, the sixteen States which are the worst offenders in this 
regard include ten of the sixteen States which comprised the 
Union in 1801: 

Number of Children Between Two and Sixteen Years of Ape in 


Almshouses, to Every 100,000 of the General Population. 1900. 

New Hampshire. 46 

Vermont. 27 

West Virginia. 25 

New Jersey. 23 

Virginia. 19 

Maine. 18 

Ohio.!.. 17 

Rhode Island. 16 

Massachusetts. 15 

Indiana. 15 

Kentucky. 14 

Montana. 12 

North Carolina. 10 

Pennsylvania. 8 

Illinois. 8 

Tennessee. 8 


V — PUBLIC SYSTEMS OTHER THAN ALMSHOUSE 

CARE. 

The systems adopted in various States for the care of desti¬ 
tute children outside of almshouses may be roughly classified 
as follows: 

a. The State school and placing-out system, adopted by 
Michigan, Wisconsin, Rhode Island, Minnesota, Kansas, Colo¬ 
rado, Nebraska, Montana, Nevada, and Texas. 

b. The county children’s home system, adopted by Ohio, 
Connecticut, and Indiana. 


















DESTITUTE, NEGLECTED AND DELINQUENT CHILDREN 53 

c. The plan of supporting public charges in private institu¬ 
tions, which prevails in New York, California, Maryland, the 
District of Columbia, and to some extent in several other 
States. 

d. The boarding-out and placing-out system, which is car¬ 
ried on directly by the public authorities in Massachusetts; 
through a private organization — the children’s aid society — 
in Pennsylvania; and has just been undertaken by the State 
authorities in New Jersey. 

a. THE STATE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM. 

Although Massachusetts established a State primary school 
at Monson in 1866, by collecting there all children from the 
other two State almshouses, and removed the larger part of 
the adult paupers therefrom in 1872, this institution was only 
for the care of the “ unsettled ” poor children. Each city and 
town still cared for its local poor, including destitute children, in 
its own way — often in the almshouse. 

Michigan was the first State to establish an exclusive State 
system for the care of all destitute children who become public 
charges, by collecting them in one central institution, from 
which they are, as soon as possible, placed out in families. 
Neither the State nor the local authorities place any children 
in private institutions, nor make any appropriations to private 
agencies. The “ Michigan plan ” has become known far and 
wide, and has been adopted by a number of other States. Dur¬ 
ing the twenty-five years of its existence this system has fol¬ 
lowed closely the lines laid down by its founders. These have 
already been suggested in part. Children are committed by the 
judges of probate of the various counties, upon the applica¬ 
tion of the superintendents of the poor. Subsequent legisla¬ 
tion authorized the commitment to the school of neglected and 
ill-treated children in the same manner. All such children be¬ 
come wards of the State, but may be returned to their parents 
by the voluntary action of the board of control of the school. 


54 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


The system is under the direction of an unsalaried board of 
control of three members, appointed by the governor and 
serving for a term of six years each, one member being ap¬ 
pointed every other year. The State public school, located at 
Coldwater, is not unlike many other well managed institutions 
on the cottage plan. At the outset, a system of county agents 
was established, the governor being authorized to appoint in 
each county an agent to investigate applications from families 
desiring to receive children, and to visit the children placed 
in homes in his county from any of the State institutions. 
These agents receive a per diem allowance, limited in certain 
counties to a maximum of $100, and in other counties, includ¬ 
ing large cities, to a maximum of $200, per year. There is also 
a State agent appointed by the board of control, whose duties 
are to investigate applications for children, and to visit children 
who have been placed out. Children of all ages under four¬ 
teen years are received at the school, and are retained only 
until, in the opinion of the superintendent, they are fitted to 
be placed in homes, and satisfactory homes are found. The 
average age of the 4,493 children received from the opening of 
the school in May, 1874, to July 1, 1898, was six and four- 
fifths years. Sixty-six per cent, of the total number were boys. 
Among the number were 238 colored children and twelve In¬ 
dian children. About one-third of the whole number, or, to 
be exact, 1,311, came directly from poorhouses, and 3,182 from 
the homes of parents, relatives, or others. The census of the 
institution has varied from 150 to 250. In 1884 it reached 
255. On June 1, 1898, it had fallen to 160. The expenses of 
maintaining the school, including salaries of State and county 
agents, has ranged from $36,000 to $45,000 per year. The 
expenditure for the year ending July 1, 1898, was less than for 
any preceding year since 1887. The number of children placed 
out in families, and remaining under supervision of the school, 
has varied during the past decade from 900 to 1,200. The 


DESTITUTE, NEGLECTED AND DELINQUENT CHILDREN 55 

total number of children received since the opening of the 
school were accounted for on July i, 1898, in the following 


manner: 

Remaining in school July 1, 1898. 159 

In families under supervision. 1,304 

Adopted by families. 426 

Girls who have married . 128 

Died: 

At the school. 94 

In families. 60 

- 154 

Restored to parents. 563 

Declared self-supporting. . . . .. 950 

Become of age. 275 

Returned to counties. 534 


Total number received. 4,493 


When the school was established there were about six hun¬ 
dred children in the poorhouses of the State. Although the 
population of the State increased from 1870 to 1890 nearly 
seventy-seven per cent., and although laws have been enacted 
and enforced for the rescue of neglected and ill-treated children, 
who have thus become wards of the State and inmates of the 
State public school, the number of children who are public 
charges actually decreased from 600 in 1874 to 300 in 1890, 
the latter figure including about one hundred defective children 
in almshouses. 

Minnesota established a similar institution in 1885, copying 
the Michigan statute in most particulars. The school was 
opened in December, 1886. One feature of the Michigan plan, 
the county agent system, was omitted. Reliance was placed 
upon State agents employed directly by and under the control 
of the school. 

In 1897 the county superintendents of schools were made ex- 
officio agents of the State public school. The census of the 
school has increased slowly but quite steadily. The average 
census for the year ended July 1, 1898, was 256, as against 159 
in the Michigan school for the same period. 
















56 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


The 1,785 received from the opening of the school, Decern^ 
ber, 1886, to July 1, 1898, are thus accounted for: 


Remaining in school July 1, 1898. 257 

In families under supervision. 1,025 

Adopted by families. 46 

Girls who have married. 9 

Died. 53 

Returned to parents.'. 104 

Self-supporting. 79 

Attained majority. 137 

Returned to counties. 75 


Total number received. 1,785 


The average age of the children when received was slightly 
higher than in Michigan, being 8.16 years, as against 6.8 in 
Michigan. Of the 1,382 children indentured since the school 
opened, the following account is given: 


ceni. 

In good homes, progressing steadily, doing well. 768 56 

Not so promising, or in less desirable homes, doing fairly well.. 435 31 

Give no promise of becoming useful, doing poorly. 179 13 


A special study was made in 1897 and 1898 of 106 children, 
who had passed seventeen years of age, and one or both of 
whose parents were known to have been of bad character. 
Personal visits were made in each case in order to gain full 
information. It was found that eighty-three per cent, were 
young people of good character. The investigation covered 
all children of bad parentage placed in families and now past 
seventeen years of age. 

Wisconsin established a State school in the same year as 
Minnesota, and also kept largely to the Michigan plan. The 
school was on the cottage plan, and was opened in November, 
1886. The census has been as high as 200, but on September 
30, 1898, was only 141. The 1,921 inmates, received from the 
opening of the school to September 30, 1898, are accounted for 


as follows: 

Remaining in school September 30, 1898. 141 

In families under supervision. 1,340 

Adopted. 94 


















DESTITUTE, NEGLECTED AND DELINQUENT CHILDREN 57 


Married. 14 

Died. 27 

Returned to counties. 163 

. Returned to homes (parents?). 8 

Transferred to other institutions. 77 

Run away from homes and not found. 57 


1,921 


Rhode Island established its State home and school for chil¬ 
dren in the same year, 1885, as Minnesota and Wisconsin. The 
institution was placed under the control of the State board of 
education, but in 1891 it was placed under the charge of a 
newly created board of control consisting of seven members. 
The statute establishing the school was very brief, and left 
substantially everything to the State board of education. An 
amending act, passed in 1888, declared that the object of the 
institution was to provide for neglected and dependent children 
not recognized as vicious or criminal. The board of educa¬ 
tion was authorized, in its discretion, to place children in fam¬ 
ilies, and was made the legal guardian of all children admitted 
to the institution. Placing-out is one of the objects of this 
institution, but because of the lack of placing-out agents, and 
also, perhaps, owing to the small size of the State, the placing 
of children in families has not been carried on as largely as in 
Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. The 530 children 
received from the opening of the institution in April, 1885, 
to December 31, 1898, are accounted for in the following man¬ 


ner: 

Remaining in home December 31, 1898. 137 

Placed in families . 335 

Returned to local authorities. 29 

Died. 5 

Become of age. 2 

Run away. *3 

Sent to reform school. 9 


530 


Kansas established a State home for soldiers’ orphans in 
1887. As the applications for the admission of soldiers’ or- 





















AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


58 

phans decreased, the institution was opened to other destitute 
children by a statute of 1890, which applied to the school the 
essential features of the Michigan system, except that the 
county superintendents of schools were made ex-officio its 
county agents. Gradually the character of the institution has 
been assimilated to that of the State public schools above de¬ 
scribed. Of the 190 children in the institution on August 28, 
1899, there were 109 soldiers' orphans. Until the institution 
was fully recognized as a State school for dependent children 
the State made small appropriations to a number of private 
institutions. 

Colorado established a State home for dependent children, 
opened in March, 1896. Prior to that time dependent children 
were county charges, and were either detained in almshouses 
or placed in private institutions at county expense. 

Montana has a State orphans’ home, opened in September, 
1894. Of the 145 children admitted from that date to Decem¬ 
ber 1, 1898, thirty-three have been placed in families and thirty- 
four returned to relatives. The last annual report expresses 
the opinion that it is better to develop an efficient placing-out 
system than to keep the children and teach them trades. 

Nevada also has a State orphanage, established at an earlier 
date than any other State institution for children except that 
of Massachusetts, since closed. It was opened in 1864, the 
year of the admission of Nevada as a State. It is under the 
control of a board consisting of the State surveyor, the State 
superintendent of public instruction, and the State treasurer. 
The census varies from seventy-five to one hundred. Children 
are placed in families occasionally, but this is not regarded as 
an important feature of the work. Though a strictly State in¬ 
stitution, it received a legacy of $5,000 in 1886 for an industrial 
department. 

Texas, too, has a State orphan asylum, opened in 1889. This 
institution is endowed by lands set apart for the purpose, when 
Texas, having seceded from Mexico, was organized is an inde- 


DESTITUTE, NEGLECTED AND DELINQUENT CHILDREN 59 

pendent republic, about 1836. The census of the institution 
on November 1, 1885, was 260. The endowment very evidently 
tends to encourage the retention, rather than the placing out, 
of the children. 

During, or just after the close of, the civil war, Iowa estab¬ 
lished three homes for soldiers’ orphans. As the numbers de¬ 
creased two of the homes were closed. In July, 1876, the name 
of the third was changed to “ Iowa soldiers’ orphans’ home and 
home for indigent children,” and it was opened to all destitute 
children who were public charges in the State. It was intended 
that all children in the almshouses should be removed to this 
institution, but the law was not obligatory. The census of the 
home was thus divided at various dates: 

Soldiers’ Other destitute 
orphaos. children. 


1879 . 98 44 

1887. 42 209 

1897. 297 I 9° 


The State of Nebraska made appropriations for a number 
of years to the home for the friendless at Lincoln, an institution 
under private management. The State gradually increased its 
control over the institution as it increased its appropriations, 
and in 1899 took entire charge of the institution. The governor 
is to appoint the superintendent, who is to conduct the institu¬ 
tion under rules and regulations prescribed by the board of 
public lands and buildings. 

Eleven States have thus established institutions for depend¬ 
ent children, following more or less closely the Michigan model. 
Among the undoubted advantages of this plan are the following: 

(1.) It offers little or no inducement to parents to throw 
their children upon the public for support. The fact that the 
custody of the children is to be vested in State authorities, and 
that the children are to be removed to an institution at some 
distance, from which after a brief period they are to be placed 
in families, discourages parents from parting from their chil¬ 
dren unless such a course is really necessary. Nor does this 





6o 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


requirement, as a rule, work unnecessary hardship. The board 
of control can relinquish to worthy parents the custody of their 
children, if such a course becomes desirable, and does so in 
numerous cases. Furthermore, the fact that sending a child to 
the State institution involves the transfer of its guardianship to 
the State authorities affords a logical and altogether satisfac¬ 
tory division of the field of charitable work, as between the 
State and private agencies. It is natural and proper that the 
private institutions should receive children for whom only tem¬ 
porary care is needed. Such a dividing line is not easily estab¬ 
lished in States in which the subsidy system has been adopted, 
or in which there is a county home for children under the care 
of public authorities in each county. The superintendent of 
the Minnesota State public school recently reports that “ The 
most important development in private charities for children 
in this State seems to be a complete change in the functions of 
such institutions. They have become places for the accom¬ 
modation of children whose parents wish to place their children 
in an institution for a short time, until they can take them and 
care for them again themselves.” 

(2.) One institution, supported by the State, is much less 
apt to increase in size indefinitely than a number of similar in¬ 
stitutions, each of which is apt to become a centre of local in¬ 
terest and local pride which is more enthusiastic than wise. 

(3.) The State is a more intelligent, resourceful, impartial, 
and efficient administrative unit than local political divisions. 
It commands a better grade of talent, and as a rule more ample 
resources. Its institutions are generally less subject to partisan 
influences than those of cities, counties, or towns. 

(4.)/The placing-out system, which has been made the most 
important feature of the best State systems, restores the chil¬ 
dren more promptly than any other method to the normal life 
of the family and of the community. In the State institutions 
there are none of the incentives to retain children unduly, such 
as are apt to prevail in local institutions, or in private institu- 


DESTITUTE, NEGLECTED AND DELINQUENT CHILDREN 6l 


tions receiving per capita allowances from public funds. The 
effective use of the placing-out system not only secures to the 
children the undoubtedly superior advantages of family life and 
training, but also diminishes correspondingly the public bur¬ 
den. The amounts spent by the States of Michigan and Min¬ 
nesota for the care of destitute children seem almost ridiculously 
small when compared with the amounts expended in other 
States; yet there is every reason for believing that the needs of 
the destitute and neglected children are nowhere more ade¬ 
quately met than in those States. 

The leading objections that have been urged against the 
State school system are: That it is subject to the influences of 
partisan politics, and all the evils of the spoils system; that the 
trustees, superintendents, officers and teachers are likely to be 
selected, not because of fitness, but because of political services 
or influence; that with every change in the political control of 
the State, the trustees and officers are likely to be removed, 
and inexperienced persons of doubtful qualifications placed in 
charge; and that the plan does not enlist the co-operation and 
support of the better classes of citizens, who, it is presumed, do 
not participate actively in politics. These are serious charges, 
if well founded. It is the opinion of the writer, after careful 
study of this phase of the subject, that some of the State schools 
for dependent children have not been wholly free at times from 
harmful partisan influences, but that such disturbances have 
been but temporary, and have not seriously impaired the proper 
development of the system, nor endangered the welfare of any 
considerable number of the children. The Michigan school, 
after being practically free from partisanship for nearly twenty 
years, was suddenly, in 1891, deprived of its board of control 
and placed, with the other charitable and with the penal insti¬ 
tutions of the State, under a newly created board of control of a 
different political complexion. On at least one other occasion 
it had passed through political upheavals in the State without 
disturbance. In this case, after two years, the former political 


62 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


conditions returned, and the separate board of control of the 
school was re-established. During the twenty-five years of its 
existence the school has had nine different superintendents, 
though it is stated on the best of authority that only two of 
these changes have been due in any degree to politics, and on 
several occasions superintendents of a different political faith 
from the board of control have been appointed and retained in 
office. The new political control, created in 1891, discontinued 
the State visiting agent — a most short-sighted step, which re¬ 
sulted in losing track of a number of the placed-out children. 
It is a question, however, whether the disturbances to which 
the Michigan State school has been subjected by politics have 
been more serious than those from which many private institu¬ 
tions suffer, in a correspondingly long period, from the influence 
of managers of limited experience, or who give but little time or 
thought to their duties, or who are actuated by motives akin to 
those which too often prevail in politics. 

The Minnesota institution has had a history of which any 
institution, public or private, might well be proud. Its original 
board of control has never been abolished or superseded by any 
other body. One of the original board of commissioners, ap¬ 
pointed to select the site and organize the school, has been from 
the first president of the board. A former State agent and as¬ 
sistant superintendent of the Michigan institution was made 
the first superintendent of the Minnesota school, and has re¬ 
mained continuously in charge until the present, and has pro¬ 
gressively and consistently developed its work. The esteem in 
which he and other workers in similar institutions are held by 
those interested in child-saving work in all parts of the country 
is indicated by the fact that he has been appointed chairman of 
the child-saving section of the twenty-seventh national con¬ 
ference of charities and correction, while the president of the 
conference will be a former superintendent of the Kansas State 
institution for children. 


DESTITUTE, NEGLECTED AND DELINQUENT CHILDREN 63 

The Rhode Island institution is also believed to have been 
substantially free from partisanship; that of Wisconsin, some¬ 
what less so. While the danger of political interference is a 
real one, it must be borne in mind that there is an increasing 
application of the merit system to public charitable institu¬ 
tions; that untoward influences of a character akin to partisan¬ 
ship are not lacking in many private institutions; that in many 
States public sentiment is such that it has become “ bad 
politics ” to interfere with State institutions, and that the State 
system possesses many superior advantages, enumerated above, 
which, in our opinion, far outweigh the dangers arising from 
politics. On the whole, the State public school for dependent 
children is undoubtedly the distinctively American contribution 
to public systems of child-saving work. 

Several States, including Pennsylvania, Illinois, Kansas, 
Ohio, Indiana, Iowa, and Wisconsin, have established State 
homes for soldiers’ orphans. Since these institutions were cre¬ 
ated to meet a special need which, let us hope, is not likely to 
recur, their work will not be considered in detail in this paper. 
The decreasing number of applications for admissions to such 
institutions has already created an interesting problem as to 
their future. Kansas and Iowa have already solved the diffi¬ 
culty by gradually converting their State soldiers’ orphans’ 
homes into State public schools for dependent children. Min¬ 
nesota and Wisconsin abolished their institutions; the latter 
State, after maintaining the institution from 1866 to 1876, 
turned the buildings over to her State university. Illinois could 
not do better than follow the example of Kansas and Iowa. 
Efforts in the same direction have already been made in Penn¬ 
sylvania, though there is little need in that State of a State 
public school for dependent children on account of the efficient 
work of the children’s aid society. The increasing amount of 
the State subsidies to private orphan asylums and children’s 
homes in Pennsylvania 1 affords, however, a plausible argument 

1 All these items were vetoed by the governor, after the last legislative 
session, on account of an impending deficit 




6 4 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


for the establishment of a State institution of this character. 
Indiana, strange to say, maintained her soldiers’ orphans’ home 
and her school for the feeble-minded in the same buildings and 
under the same management until 1885, when they were sepa¬ 
rated. 

b. THE COUNTY CHILDREN’S HOME SYSTEM. 

Some fifteen years before Michigan established her now 
famous State public school for dependent children, a kind- 
hearted woman, who had been touched by the forlorn condition 
of the twenty-six children associated with adult paupers in the 
Washington county (Ohio) almshouse, established, under her 
personal direction, a small home for children on a farm ten 
miles from the city of Marietta. The county commissioners 
placed the children from the poorhouse under her care, paying 
her a per capita rate of $1 per week for their maintenance. 
With a view to securing similar care for children in the other 
almshouses of the State, a bill was presented to the legislature 
of 1864 authorizing counties to establish homes for children. 
These homes were to be wholly apart from almshouses and un¬ 
der the control of boards of trustees appointed by the county 
commissioners, and supported by public funds. The bill be¬ 
came law in 1866. 

Subsequently, the State board of charities exerted a powerful 
influence in behalf of the establishment of such homes, with the 
result that from 1866 to 1890 fifty were established. The plac¬ 
ing-out system was not recognized as an important feature of 
the original plan; very likely because the good woman, through 
whose influence the bill was framed, had been drawn into the 
work through observing the cruelty to which an orphan child, 
who had been placed in a family of low character, was subjected. 
The county homes varied much in the extent to which they 
placed out children, but only one or two of them undertook 
such work extensively. In 1893 only two of the county homes 
employed visiting agents, though several placed out children 
through private agencies. 


DESTITUTE, NEGLECTED AND DELINQUENT CHILDREN 65 

According to a report compiled by the secretary of the State 
board of charities of Ohio in February, 1893, the forty-six 
county homes had accommodations for 3,522 children. The 
total number of children received since the establishment of 
the system was 15,290; of whom 4,973 had been placed in 
families by adoption or indenture, 3,817 had been returned to 
parents or guardians, 425 had died, and 2,158 remained in the 
homes February 13, 1893. The remaining 3,917 are not ac¬ 
counted for. The average length of time the children were kept 
in the county homes was about two years and two months, as 
compared with about one year in the Minnesota State school 
and six months in the Michigan school. One county home 
reported an average retention of children for ten years, one 
seven years, one five years, one three years, two seven months, 
one six months, and one four months. No reports are given of 
the placed-out children, who remained under the oversight of 
the homes, and probably only fragmentary records are kept of 
the children after they are placed out; certainly there is no uni¬ 
form system of supervision for such children. In Ohio, there¬ 
fore, the county system has proved to be seriously lacking in 
securing uniform and effective action by the various local au¬ 
thorities. 

In Connecticut a number of persons who had been active in 
the establishment of a private home for children caused a bill 
to be introduced in the legislature of 1882 prohibiting the re¬ 
tention of children in almshouses. The bill failed of passage, 
but a commission was appointed to inquire into the subject. 
Upon the recommendation of this commission a law was passed 
in 1883, authorizing the establishment in each county of a tem¬ 
porary home for children, and such a home was opened in each 
of the eight counties of the State before January 1, 1898. The 
homes have, in each case, been removed from the sites first 
chosen, and their management has undergone at least one 
radical change. The present plan provides that each county 
home shall be managed by a board, consisting of three county, 

5 


66 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


commissioners, one member of the State board of health, and 
one member of the State board of charities. Admission is by 
the selectmen of a town, in which case the child isi a town 
charge, or by a formal commitment by a justice of the peace, 
judge of probate, or judge of a city or police court, in which 
case the child becomes a ward of the State, the guardianship 
being vested in the board of managers of the home, and the 
expense of maintenance being borne by the State. While a 
majority of the board of managers of the homes are county 
officials, the expense is borne very largely by the State, the 
remainder being paid by the towns. The State board of chari¬ 
ties is authorized to recommend to the boards of managers suit¬ 
able family homes in which children may be placed, and is au¬ 
thorized to visit children who have been placed out. Two 
agents are employed by the State board of charities for this 
purpose. Under this plan of a divided responsibility, and of a 
number of local institutions, it is not strange that the numbers 
of children have increased rapidly. One county home, to relieve 
overcrowding, has for three years boarded a number of its 
younger children in families with satisfactory results. One 
county, after maintaining a home in two different locations, 
accepted the offer of a private asylum, and for the past ten 
years the children have been boarded in this asylum by the 
county board of management, at the rate of $1.50 per week. 
The 4,746 children received from the opening of the homes to 
September 30, 1898, are thus accounted for: 


Remaining in county homes, September 30, 1898. 728 

Placed in families. 2,359 

Returned to friends (relatives). 1,616 

Placed under care of clergymen. 159 

Placed in other institutions. . . .. 323 

Recalled by selectmen. 91 

Died. 80 


5,356 

Duplicated in above reckoning.. 610 


4,746 














DESTITUTE, NEGLECTED AND DELINQUENT CHILDREN 67 

In addition to the county home system, the town of Nor¬ 
walk maintains a home for children in a building formerly used 
as a town almshouse, and several towns board children in pri¬ 
vate asylums. A recent official report states in regard to the 
county temporary homes: “ It is very difficult to preserve their 
temporary character, and the number of children in the homes 
increases steadily year by year.” In 1898, at the instance of 
one of the city boards of charity, the legislature authorized the 
retention of children in almshouses until four years of age, in¬ 
stead of two years, as formerly. This was done to prevent over¬ 
crowding in one of the county temporary homes, but it was a 
serious backward step. 

Indiana, in 1881, authorized boards of county commissioners 
to establish orphans’ homes, which were to be placed under the 
immediate charge of matrons. Boards of unpaid visitors were 
to be appointed, but no form of actual control was provided ex¬ 
cept by the county commissioners and the matrons. Subse¬ 
quently, under legislative authority, the commissioners in¬ 
trusted the management of the county children’s asylums to 
“ local associations.” In 1896, there were county homes for 
children in forty-three of the ninety-two counties of the State. 
No statistics concerning the operations of these asylums prior 
to 1896 are available. The constant increase in the number of 
children led to a movement in 1897 to establish a State school 
for dependent children; the actual result, however, was a sys¬ 
tem of State supervision of the county institutions, and the es¬ 
tablishment of a State placing-out agency under the State 
board of charities. The agent of the State board began by 
visiting the county homes and enlisting an interest in the plac¬ 
ing-out system. He is authorized to visit children placed out 
from county homes and to remove children from county homes, 
and place them in families. At the end of the first two years’ 
work of the State agent two hundred and eight children placed 
by him in families remained under his supervision. The county 
homes had also increased the number of children placed in 


68 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


families from about five hundred per year to about seven hun¬ 
dred. The number of children remaining in the county orphan 
asylums on April I, 1897, was 1,514, as compared' with 1,554 
in 1898. 

In some States in which no system is enforced by law, there 
are isolated instances of county orphan asylums under public 
control. There are two such in Pennsylvania, one in Mary¬ 
land, one in New York, and possibly others. 

The advantages that have been claimed for the county system 
are^that it enlists the interest of the best citizens of the various , 
counties; that it avoids sending the children to a distance (a 
doubtful benefit); and that the institutions can be kept smaller 
and, therefore, more homelike, and are less likely to institu¬ 
tionalize the children. 

, As a matter of fact, experience has clearly demonstrated 
that the system possesses none of these benefits, except, pos¬ 
sibly, the first, and that the local interest which is aroused is 
more enthusiastic than wise in regard to child-saving methods, 
and tends to the upbuilding of large institutions as a matter of 
local pride. A number of children’s institutions scattered over 
a State have an almost irresistible tendency to increase the 
numbers of children who become public charges; parents are 
much more likely to part from their children for unworthy or 
insufficient causes; the management lacks uniformity and effi¬ 
ciency; the officials of the various homes are less expert than 
those of State institutions. The results are shown by com¬ 
parison of the numbers of children cared for under the State 
and county systems in adjoining States in which conditions are 
similar. Ohio has one child a public charge to every 1,836 of 
the population; Indiana has one to every 1,410; and Michigan 
only one to every 13,168. Connecticut has one dependent 
child a public charge in every 1,025 of the population; Rhode 
Island only one to 2,522. (In each case the census of 1890 is 
used for general population.) The argument that county insti- 


DESTITUTE, NEGLECTED AND DELINQUENT CHILDREN 69 

tutions are smaller and more homelike than State institutions 
falls to the ground in view of the fact that the leading State in¬ 
stitutions are on the cottage plan, and also because the State 
institutions are but little larger than a number of the county in¬ 
stitutions. In fact, one of the county temporary homes of 
Connecticut is larger than the State institution of Michigan, 
Wisconsin, or Rhode Island, while two other Connecticut 
county homes and three of the Ohio county homes are nearly 
as large as any of the three State institutions above mentioned. 

The weakness of the county system is further shown by the 
fact that both Connecticut and Indiana have already estab¬ 
lished State agencies for removing the children from the county 
institutions and placing them in families. The influence of the 
^C)hio State board of charities is constantly exerted to secure 
more extended placing-out from county homes. It has been 
doubtful, however, whether a State placing-out agency can ever 
overcome the disadvantages of local control. 

It is not too much to say that the county children’s home 
system has been fairly and fully tried, and has been found 
wanting. 


c. PUBLIC SUPPORT IN PRIVATE INSTITUTIONS. 

It is doubtful whether any State deliberately and inten¬ 
tionally adopted this plan as a general State system. Usually 
it has been undertaken in various localities as a temporary ex¬ 
pedient, and then gradually extended, until, by permission of 
the State, rather than by its direction, it has become the pre¬ 
vailing system. 

NEW YORK. 

In New York, public subsidies to private institutions began 
many years before the passage of the law for the removal of 
children from almshouses. In 1811 the State authorized the 
payment of $500 yearly to the New York orphan asylum, 
from the public funds derived from auction sales; the same 


70 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


favor was later extended to the Roman catholic orphan asy¬ 
lum, organized in 1817. The house of refuge for juvenile of¬ 
fenders, organized in 1824, was from the first largely supported 
by State funds. So far as known no other State appropriations 
were made to orphan asylums until 1847, when, in addition 
to the sum of $500 to each of the two asylums mentioned 
above, $3,000 was appropriated by the State to be distributed 
among orphan asylums for the education of their inmates. The 
number of institutions receiving aid, and the total amounts 
granted, increased with considerable regularity for ten years, 
reaching a total of $50,000 in 1857. During the years im¬ 
mediately preceding and subsequent to the outbreak of the 
civil war, the amounts were reduced, being only $11,000 in 
1861. In 1866 the sum of $55,033 was distributed among fifty- 
eight institutions; in 1870 $150,000 was appropriated to orphan 
asylums, to be divided among the counties in proportion to 
the total valuation of property, and within the county to be 
divided among the asylums in proportion to the number of 
their inmates. In addition to this, thirty-five institutions re¬ 
ceived specific appropriations, ranging from $500 to $5,000 
each. Many private charities besides orphan asylums received 
State aid. The propriety of prohibiting such appropriations 
was considered by the constitutional conventions of 1846 and 
1867. The latter convention adopted an amendment looking 
in this direction, but the entire revision failed of adoption by 
popular vote. The total amount granted by the State to pri¬ 
vate charities increased rapidly from $95,000 in 1863 to 
$910,000 in 1872. 

This rapid growth, and the “ log-rolling ” and other ob¬ 
jectionable practices in the legislature, growing out of the cus¬ 
tom, were undoubtedly responsible for the fact that the con¬ 
stitutional commission of 1873 adopted an amendment pro¬ 
hibiting the State from using either its money or its credit in 
aid of any private undertaking, except in behalf of juvenile de¬ 
linquents. This amendment was ratified by the 'people in 


DESTITUTE, NEGLECTED AND DELINQUENT CHILDREN 71 

November, 1874, and put a sudden end to the granting of State 
subsidies. Only one institution was seriously altered in char¬ 
acter by this step. /The private asylum for destitute Indian chil¬ 
dren was soon afterwards reorganized as a State institution, 
and remains the only State institution in New York for desti¬ 
tute children. 

About 1850 some of the cities, counties, and towns also 
had begun to make appropriations to such institutions, usually 
in the form of a per capita allowance for public charges, but 
in some instances in gross amounts. Various institutions in 
New York city, not wishing to depend upon the voluntary 
action of the city authorities each year, secured laws directing 
the city to pay them a certain sum per week for each child 
under their care. These sums were at first much below the 
actual cost to the institutions, but various amending acts were 
secured increasing the rates of payment, and with the fall in 
prices after 1870, the city allowances came to be sufficient to 
meet the entire cost of maintenance, and in some cases to leave 
a considerable margin to be applied to the erection of new 
buildings or the reduction of indebtedness. 

The passage of the children’s law in 1875, directing that 
children be removed from almshouses and placed either in 
families or in institutions for children, gave new impetus to 
the system. No official authorities were created for placing 
children in families, and though it was hoped and expected by 
the framers of the law that it would result in a very great ex¬ 
tension of the placing-out system, such has not been its effect. 
The word almshouse was held to mean any institution main¬ 
tained by public officers for the support of the poor, whether 
connected with an almshouse for adults, or otherwise. Most 
of the 1,473 children in the city almshouses on Randall’s 
island and the almshouse nursery in Brooklyn, who were not 
defective in mind or body, were sent to private institutions, 
though some were sent to the west through the children’s aid 
society. Two of the smaller counties, and one small city, se- 


72 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


cured special laws authorizing them to establish children’s 
homes apart from their almshouses, but so fully was the transi¬ 
tion to a private system effected that of 31,799 destitute, neg¬ 
lected, and wayward children in institutions (not including 
reformatories) in the State on September 30, 1897, less than 
125 were in public institutions. Another important factor in 
the situation was the feature of the law which required children 
to be placed, when practicable, in institutions controlled by 
persons of the same religious faith as the parents of the children. 

It is evident that this plan involved the maximum of induce¬ 
ments for the upbuilding of large institutions and for the dis¬ 
couragement of the placing-out system. The income of the in¬ 
stitutions depended wholly upon the number of children re¬ 
ceived and the length of their retention. A large number of 
children could be supported at a less per capita rate than a small 
number. Being under the control of persons of their own 
religious faith, the institutions naturally commanded the con¬ 
fidence of the children’s parents, and of their spiritual advisers. 
The fact that the parents, by placing their children in institu¬ 
tions, were virtually receiving public aid was so disguised as 
not to be perceived, and many of the parents, particularly those 
of foreign birth, came to regard the institutions somewhat in 
the light of free boarding schools. The institutions being in 
many cases under the control of religious bodies, naturally 
were inclined to retain the children until thoroughly instructed 
and trained in the faith, and also to receive as many as possible 
of the children who might otherwise be won over to other 
faiths. In fact, the largest of all the institutions was estab¬ 
lished because, in the words of one of its authorities, “ hun¬ 
dreds, yes, thousands of catholic children were lost to the faith 
through a system (of placing-out) which ignored such a thing 
as religious rights in the helpless objects of its charity.” Sound 
morality and good public policy are on the side of keeping chil¬ 
dren who have received definite religious training and instruc¬ 
tion under the influence of the faith in which they have been 


DESTITUTE, NEGLECTED AND DELINQUENT CHILDREN 73 

instructed. In regard to younger children, who as yet have 
no special religious training or convictions, it is also well, when¬ 
ever practicable, to keep them under the influences of the faith 
of their fathers. The workings of the children’s law, however, 
went to the other extreme and arrayed that strongest of in¬ 
fluences, sectarian zeal, on the side of the upbuilding of institu¬ 
tions, and brought to its support the strong arm of the law 
and the ample resources of the public purse. New institu¬ 
tions were incorporated for the purpose of receiving these al¬ 
lowances of public funds, and there grew up what can, be de¬ 
scribed only as a rivalry on the part of various institutions to 
secure the commitment of large numbers of children to their 
care. The result was inevitable; children’s institutions, of a 
size hitherto unknown, were developed and the number of de¬ 
pendent children increased out of all proportion to the popu¬ 
lation. From 1875 to I & 9 2 the general population of the State 
increased thirty-eight per cent; the number of children in insti¬ 
tutions, ninety-six per cent. 

Comparatively few of the children were placed in families, the 
great majority of them being returned to their parents or rela¬ 
tives upon reaching a self-supporting age. 

Little or no supervision was exercised over the few children 
placed in families, and none whatever over children returned 
to relatives, so that it is impossible to speak with any authority 
as to the essential character of the product of the institutional 
training. Extravagant statements have been made both for 
and against — the simple fact is that we do not certainly know. 

Such in general is the New York system, whose features 
were most strongly emphasized in the larger cities. Certain 
exceptions should be noted. Richmond county adopted the 
system of boarding children in families until free homes could 
be found, and in this way kept the numbers at a minimum. 
Erie county, alarmed by the growing expense for this purpose 
has, since 1879, employed one, and later two, agents, working 


74 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


under the direction of the board of supervisors, to place chil¬ 
dren in families. Certain of the older institutions, whose gen¬ 
eral lines of work had been well established before the law of 
1875, have been comparatively unaffected by the new condi¬ 
tions, and, not being wholly dependent upon the income from 
public funds, have been less subject to the tendencies of; the 
per capita system. The institutions under religious control 
have naturally retained children longer than the non-denomi- 
national institutions. Of 1,935 children who, on September 
30, 1894, had been supported by the city of New York more 
than five years in institutions, 1,612 or 83 per cent were in 
catholic institutions; 268 or 14 per cent in jewish institutions, 
and 55 or 3 per cent in protestant or non-sectarian institutions. 
This was doubtless due partly to a lack of confidence in the 
placing-out system, partly to the difficulty of securing catholic 
and hebrew families, and partly to a desire to retain the chil¬ 
dren until firmly established in their respective faiths. A nota¬ 
ble exception to the general rule is the New York foundling 
hospital (R. C.), which almost from its earliest history has 
placed a very large proportion of its children by adoption be¬ 
fore they have reached the age of five years. 

The objectionable features of the New York system have 
been somewhat modified during the past five years. The con¬ 
stitutional convention of 1894 made two important changes. 
It forbade the legislature from thereafter compelling cities, 
counties, or towns to make appropriations to private institu¬ 
tions, thus putting a stop to the mandatory legislation which 
left the city no choice but to pay fixed gross amounts or per 
capita rates to a large number of private charities. The 
courts held that this law was not retroactive in its effect upon 
earlier legislation, but in 1899 a law was passed authorizing 
the city to increase or diminish the amounts heretofore fixed 
by law to be paid to private charities. This virtually gives the 
cities and counties unlimited home rule in this matter. 


DESTITUTE, NEGLECTED AND DELINQUENT CHILDREN 75 

More important than this, however, was another constitu¬ 
tional amendment, adopted in 1894, which provided that no 
payments should be made by any city, county, or town, for 
any inmate of a private institution, who is not received and 
retained pursuant to rules established by the State board of 
charities. This action by the constitutional convention was to 
say in effect that there were serious evils to be remedied, and 
to refer the whole subject to the State board of charities, giving 
that body quasi-legislative authority to deal with the subject. 
The rule established by the State board in 1895, and continued 
with few changes to the present, has as their most important 
feature a provision to the effect that only inmates shall be paid 
for from public funds who are accepted as proper public charges 
by the local authorities charged with the relief of the poor. 
Such officers already had power to place children in institutions 
as public charges. This gave them power not to discharge 
children, but to discontinue the payment of public funds in any 
given case. Other provisions of the rules require detailed re¬ 
ports concerning each inmate to the State board of charities, 
compliance with the public health law, etc. The effects of the 
adoption of these rules, and of the measures taken by the State 
board and the local authorities for their enforcement, have 
been altogether wholesome, and have for a time at least held 
in check the previous tendencies. 

A review of the whole system shows that the number of chil¬ 
dren (destitute, neglected, and wayward, public and private 
charges) in institutions on September 30, 1875, nine months 
after the children’s law took effect, was 14,773. This number 
steadily increased year by year until 1894, when it reached 
33,558. It is not possible to give separately the figures for de¬ 
linquent children, since many of them are sent to the same in¬ 
stitutions as the destitute and neglected, and separate statistics 
are not kept. Nor is it possible to give separate figures for 
those who are not public charges. This proportion is not 
large, however, and there is no reason to think that it varies 


76 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


much from year to year. From September 30, 1894, to Sep¬ 
tember 30, 1897, the last date for which the statistics are at this 
time available, the number has decreased from 33,558 to 33,3791 
included in the latter figure are 423 children in institutions not 
hitherto reporting, making an actual decrease in the same in¬ 
stitutions from 1894 to 1897 of 602, notwithstanding an un¬ 
doubted continual increase in the general population. 

The effect of the changes introduced in 1894 was most 
marked in New York city. Here the number of children in 
institutions receiving per capita allowances from the city in¬ 
creased steadily until 1894. From 1890 to 1894 there was an 
increase from 14,550 to 16,858. From 1894 to 1897 there was 
a decrease from 16,858 to 15,501. An analysis of the New York 
city figures shows that in institutions directly under the man¬ 
agement of religious bodies the tendency to increase the census 
prior to 1894 was most marked, and also that these institutions 
yield less readily to the restraining influences of the new con¬ 
stitution. The figures are as follows: 


Increase in Census from 1890 to 1894. 


Catholic institutions. 

Protestant institutions. 

Hebrew institutions. 

Number. 

Per cent. 

16.4 

6.5 

30.8 


2,308 

15-8 

Decrease from 1894 to 1896. 

Catholic institutions. 

Protestant institutions. 

Hebrew institutions. 

Number. 

507 

Per cent. 

5.3 

15.6 

16.2 

Another factor which promises to have a 

marked influence 


upon the situation is the co-operation established in 1898 be¬ 
tween the charity organization society of New York city and 
the department of charities (boroughs of Manhattan and the 
Bronx). The society is given an opportunity to examine all 
applications for the commitment of children by reason of desti¬ 
tution, and if it finds that the parents, or surviving parent, are 















DESTITUTE, NEGLECTED AND DELINQUENT CHILDREN 77 

of good character and so situated that it is desirable that they 
should be enabled to keep their children, it secures for them 
the needed assistance in the form of clothing, groceries, fuel, 
etc., and plaees the family under the care of one of its district 
committees. This will undoubtedly reduce the numbers com¬ 
mitted. 

The method of reception of children who are to become pub¬ 
lic charges was, prior to 1884, generally by informal commit¬ 
ment by overseers or superintendents of the poor, or in cities 
by commissioners of charities. A number of institutions, under 
special laws, received per capita payments for children received 
at their own volition directly from parents. In 1881 the penal 
code authorized the commitment of destitute, neglected, and 
wayward children by magistrates. This custom in New York 
city entirely superseded commitment by the charities depart¬ 
ment; in Brooklyn both systems were in use, but in other parts 
of the State the commitments were generally by poor law 
officers. In 1894 a special law for Kings county required magis¬ 
trates to refer applications for the commitment of children to 
the charities commissioner for investigation and report. A 
similar provision, but limited to destitute children, was in¬ 
cluded in the Greater New York charter, taking effect January 
1, 1898. The custom of informal commitment by the charities 
commissioners was resumed in New York city in 1897. The 
present tendency is toward the commitment of destitute chil¬ 
dren by the poor law officers, and of neglected and wayward 
children by magistrates. 

The State board of charities is the only body which is au¬ 
thorized by law to inspect the private institutions for children, 
and this body has done so regularly only in very recent years.« 
It is not difficult, however, to secure permission to visit, 
through the courtesy of those in charge. There is no doubt 
that some of the private institutions are admirably managed 
and that most of them are at least fairly satisfactory as to the 
care and education of the children. Naturally there is great 


78 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


variation between different institutions, as each is under wholly 
independent control. Prior to 1886 contagious ophthalmia 
was very common, and many cases of blindness resulted, but in 
that year a law was passed prescribing minutely many matters 
relating to sanitation, examination and isolation of new cases, 
cubic air space in dormitories, distance between beds, etc. One 
notable instance of an institution organized to care for chil¬ 
dren under public allowances, which was managed for the per¬ 
sonal benefit of one family, and in which the inmates suffered 
almost every form of neglect and cruelty, was discovered. 
Through the efforts of the State board of charities, and the 
health and charities departments of New York city, the insti¬ 
tution was abolished in 1897. 

It has seemed necessary to consider the New York system 
at length, because of its exceptional character and the large 
number of children supported in institutions in that State (from 
one-quarter to one-third of the entire juvenile institutional 
population of the United States), and because it is so compli¬ 
cated that it would be impossible in any less space to make 
clear the essential character and tendencies of the system. 

CALIFORNIA. 

California has a system somewhat similar to that of New 
York, except that the payments are exclusively from the 
State treasury, and there is no official control over the admiss¬ 
ion or retention of the children. State appropriations to 
orphan asylums and homes for the aged have been customary 
ever since the admission of California into the Union in 1850. 
Section 22 of article iv. of the present constitution of Cali¬ 
fornia, adopted in 1879, prohibits the State from making ap¬ 
propriations to private charities, except “ institutions for 
orphans, half-orphans, or abandoned children, or aged persons 
in indigent circumstances.” The constitution also provides 
that whenever any city, county, or town shall provide for the 
support of orphans, half-orphans, or abandoned children, it 


DESTITUTE, NEGLECTED AND DELINQUENT CHILDREN 79 


shall be entitled to receive from the State the same pro rata ap¬ 
propriation as may be granted to institutions under church or 
other control. The statutes of 1880, still in force, provide that 
every institution in the State, conducted for the care of orphan, 
half-orphan, or abandoned children, shall receive from the State 
treasury the sum of $100 per year for each orphan child, and 
$75 P er year for each half-orphan or abandoned child, provided 
that abandoned children must have been in the institution at 
least one year. The statute provides that children over four¬ 
teen years of age, or for whose specific support the sum of $10 
per month or more was paid, should not be included under the 
act; also that no institution with less than twenty inmates 
should be included. In 1883 the act was amended so as to in¬ 
clude foundlings and other abandoned infants, for whom the 
State is to pay $12 per month, until they reach the age of 
eighteen months, after which the payments are to be at rates 
above mentioned. The provision requiring a census of twenty 
is declared to mean, in connection with infant asylums, twenty 
admissions per year. California has thus, in effect, told the 
private charities to take care of as many children as they like 
and for as long a time as they like, and the State will pay the 
bills. Statistics in regard to the operation of the California 
system are not so complete as in New York, but they show a 
steady increase in the number of children supported, or partly 
supported, by the State, and that the appropriations to counties 
form a small portion, about ten per cent, of the total appropria¬ 
tions for the support of children. About thirty-five institu¬ 
tions receive State aid. 

The number of children supported, and the amounts paid 
by the State at various periods during the past fifteen years 
are as follows: 

Children. Amount. 


First half of 1885. 
First half of 1890. 
First half of 1895. 
First half of 1898. 


3,393 $119,897 75 

4,723 142,894 00 

5,68o 170,321 53 

6,756 205,022 02 







8o 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


Of the total appropriations in 1889 the protestant and non¬ 
sectarian institutions received twenty-nine per cent, the hebrew 
institutions three per cent, and the catholic sixty-eight per 
cent, the proportions being somewhat similar to those in New 
York. The numbers of each of the different classics of chil¬ 
dren in 1885 an d in 1898 are as follows: 

Increase. 



1895. 

1898. 

Per Cent. 

Orphans. 


862 

II 

Half-orphans. 


5,160 

133 

Abandoned children. 


536 

83 

Foundlings. 

. 107 

198 

85 

Total.. 


6,756 

99 


This increase is undoubtedly disproportional to the growth 
of population (which from 1880 to 1890 was forty-two per 
cent). The steady increase in these appropriations has aroused 
considerable sentiment in favor of a change in the system. 
The State controller, in his report for the two years ending 
June 30, 1898, speaking of these appropriations, said: “ I be¬ 
lieve some steps must be taken to reduce this expenditure. 
Either the lav/ must be repealed, or the amount now appro¬ 
priated must be reduced. I am not of a mind to recommend the 
former, but earnestly commend the latter to your considera- 
tion.” The governor’s message in January, 1899, however, 
stated that, “ In view of the recommendations of the controller 
to change the laws relating to orphans and half-orphans, be¬ 
cause of the large amounts expended therefor, I desire to call 
the attention of this legislature to the fact that in the past we 
have expended large sums for much less worthy purposes. In 
this connection I desire to state that we should extend the 
period for which orphans and half-orphans are cared for, from 
fourteen to sixteen years of age. There should not be any re¬ 
duction in the sum allowed for the maintenance of these chil¬ 
dren.” The divided sentiment of the State is thus clearly mani¬ 
fest. As a first step toward a reform of the system, a bill was 














DESTITUTE, NEGLECTED AND DELINQUENT CHILDREN 8l 

passed by the legislature of 1899 for the creation of a State 
board of charities with general advisory and visitorial powers, 
but it was vetoed by the governor. 

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 

The subsidy or contract system has had a most interesting 
history in the District of Columbia. I11 1832 congress gave a 
tract of land valued at $10,000 to each of the two then exist¬ 
ing orphan asylums, one being non-sectarian and one catholic. 
Neither of these institutions has to this date received any other 
aid from the government. In 1867 an appropriation of $5,000 
was made to the home for soldiers and sailors' orphans, for 
maintenance. These appropriations were continued, and 
gradually the private contributions decreased. From 1874 con¬ 
gress also reduced its aid and the institution after struggling 
for some years was disbanded and the property turned over to 
the Garfield memorial hospital association. Since 1869 con- 
gress has appropriated yearly from $5,000 to $24,500 to the 
home for destitute colored women and children. In 1872 
$20,000 was appropriated to St. Rose's industrial school, and 
from 1887 to 1899 an anuual appropriation was made to it for 
maintenance. In 1875 an abandoned almshouse was given over 
to the industrial home school, and since 1879 institution 
has received a yearly appropriation for maintenance. Private 
contributions decreased, and from 1885 to 1896 the institution 
was practically dependent upon federal aid. In 1896 the pri¬ 
vate corporation was dissolved and a board of trustees, ap¬ 
pointed by public authority, placed in charge. In 1877, 1879, 
1881, 1887, and 1893, other institutions were added to the list 
receiving public aid. 

The increasing amounts of such appropriations, and the 
difficulty experienced by the legislators in finding any satis¬ 
factory principle by which to determine what amounts should 
be given, led to an agitation for a change, which resulted in 
1890 in the creation of the office of superintendent of charities. 


82 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


It was the duty of the superintendent to study the situation, 
make recommendations as to specific appropriations, and also 
as to changes in the general plan. The first superintendent, 
Prof. Amos G. Warner, appointed by President Harrison, be¬ 
came convinced within a year that the subsidy or contract sys¬ 
tem could not be reformed, but must be abolished. As a step 
in this direction, the board of children’s guardians was created 
in 1892 as a public body, appointed by the judges of the dis¬ 
trict, to act for the district in its care of destitute children. The 
first agent of this board was called to that position from the 
post of State agent of the Minnesota State public school for 
dependent children. All grants to private institutions were re¬ 
duced forty per cent, and this amount was given to the board 
for its work. All children becoming dependent upon the pub¬ 
lic were to be committed to the guardianship of this board, 
which might place them at board in institutions or in families, 
or in free homes in families. Meanwhile, with the advent of 
the Cleveland administration in 1893, a superintendent of chari¬ 
ties favorable to the subsidy system was appointed. Strong 
opposition to the board of children’s guardians arose; its appro¬ 
priation was diminished by nearly one-half; and several of the 
subsidies were restored in whole or in part. These conditions 
continued for three years, during which time, notwithstanding 
all the unfavorable circumstances, the work of the board in¬ 
creased in efficiency and proved its humane and economical 
value. At the end of this period a “ joint select committee ” 
of both houses of congress made an extended investigation of 
the whole subject, and presented a voluminous report which 
was, on the whole, extremely favorable to the public board of 
children’s guardians. With the advent of the McKinley ad¬ 
ministration, the agent of the board of children’s guardians was 
appointed as superintendent of charities, in which position his 
influence has naturally tended to strengthen the board of chil¬ 
dren’s guardians and to further restrict the subsidy system. In 


DESTITUTE, NEGLECTED AND DELINQUENT CHILDREN 83 

1897, the house of representatives passed a bill abolishing the 
subsidy system, but the senate forced a partial compromise. 
The same occurred in 1898, in each case the powers of the 
children’s guardians being strengthened and its appropriations 
increased, while the number of private institutions receiving 
grants was reduced. The present tendency is clearly toward 
the abolition of the subsidy plan, but, judging from the past, 
the results may depend somewhat upon the election returns of 
November, 1900. 

OTHER STATES. 

The only other State in which the system of public support 
in private institutions can be said to be the prevailing one is 
Maryland. Here the State appropriates gross amounts, a total 
of about $20,000 per year, to eight or ten private institutions, 
and the city of Baltimore also makes appropriations of gross 
amounts amounting to about $12,000 per year to some six in¬ 
stitutions. Under the new charter taking effect in 1900, a city 
board of supervisors of charities is created and given important 
powers as to admission, transfer and discharge of children who 
are to be public charges in private institutions. 

Oregon also makes appropriations in gross amounts to some 
six private institutions, a total amount of $26,000 per year, and 
destitute children are placed in these institutions by county 
officials. 

In Pennsylvania the State appropriates gross amounts to a 
considerable number of children’s homes, hospitals, and other 
institutions. These appropriations have increased from $10,000 
given to one institution in 1875-1876 to $103,700 given to four¬ 
teen institutions in 1891-1892. The institutions receiving these 
grants, however, do not as a rule receive destitute children from 
public officials, who in most parts of the State co-operate with 
the children’s aid society. The subsidy system is not the con¬ 
trolling factor in the public care of children in this State, but 
if it continues to develop, it is likely to give rise to serious dis¬ 
turbances in the present system. Its growth has doubtless 


84 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


been greatly restricted by a constitutional provision prohibit¬ 
ing State appropriations to sectarian institutions. 

In Delaware the State makes appropriations of gross 
amounts to two institutions, and one county, containing the 
city of Wilmington, also gives aid in gross amounts to four 
institutions. 

North Carolina grants aid in gross amounts to two institu¬ 
tions, which, however, decline to receive children from alms¬ 
houses. One county, Buncombe, has organized a children’s 
.home as a public institution. 

Maine makes appropriations of gross amounts to several pri¬ 
vate institutions which receive some children from almshouses. 
The women’s Christian temperance union of this State is ac¬ 
tive in placing children from almshouses in families. 

Milwaukee has an interesting history in regard to subsidies. 
Although Wisconsin has a State school to which Milwaukee 
contributes its share of taxation, this city continued until 1897 
to board its destitute children in a number of private institu¬ 
tions. In 1897, on account of the increasing expense and the 
undue retention of the children in the private institutions, this 
plan was discontinued, and the county established a children’s 
home, under the direction of a board of trustees of four mem¬ 
bers, appointed by the chairman of the board of supervisors. 

In response to an inquiry as to why the county established 
this institution, instead of sending the children to the State 
institution, a competent authority writes: 

“ The State school receives no children under three years of 
age, and only those of sound mind and body. The county had 
many ineligible under the second heading, and also a number 
for whom only temporary shelter was needed.” 

The city had been supporting 300 children in private asy¬ 
lums. When the county home was opened and notice was sent 
to the asylums to transfer the children thither, only a very few 
children, all of whom were defective, were sent, the asylums 
preferring to keep the children at their own expense. The 


DESTITUTE, NEGLECTED AND DELINQUENT CHILDREN 85 

county home, with a capacity of 125, has never been fully oc¬ 
cupied. After it had been open about one year it had some 
seventy inmates. During the next six months, by placing out 
some children and by returning others to their parents, the 
number was reduced to thirty; so that the city is now sup¬ 
porting about one-tenth of the number who were public charges 
under the former plan. 

New Hampshire, not enjoying the distinction of having more 
children in almshouses in 1890 in proportion to its population 
than any other State in the Union, passed a law in 1895 direct¬ 
ing the local authorities to place destitute children in orphan 
asylums, homes, or private families, and, as soon as practicable, 
to find permanent homes for them and make contracts for their 
education and support during minority, which contracts are 
subject to approval or rescission by the State board of charities, 
created by the same statute. Under this law, all the children, 
except a few who were defective, were removed to asylums or 
families. An effort to repeal the law was made by the local au¬ 
thorities in 1897, but the result was simply that the law was 
made more drastic and the powers of the State board of chari¬ 
ties increased. It was directed to visit the homes and families in 
which all such children were placed, and to assist the county 
and town officials in securing homes for the children. As 
might be expected there is a^marked tendency to place the chil¬ 
dren in institutions rather than in families. Although there 
were but 184 children between two and sixteen years of age in 
almshouses in 1890, there were already on November 1, 1898, 
392 children between the ages of three and fifteen, supported 
in children’s homes or private families; none except defective 
children remained in almshouses. It would seem that New 
Hampshire, while justly entitled to great praise for removing 
the children from almshouses, might well study the experiences 
of New York and California. 

In Tennessee, four or five counties make per capita appro¬ 
priations to private institutions for the support of children. 


86 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


Doubtless there are other instances of State, county or mu¬ 
nicipal appropriations to children’s institutions not included in 
the above, but if so, they are of limited amounts and do not 
amount to a general system for the care of children in any 
State. 

ADVANTAGES. 

The advantages claimed for this plan are: 

a. That it removes the whole matter from the influences of 
partisan politics and the dangers of the spoils system. To most 
persons who favor the contract system, excepting those who 
do so because of the importance they attach to sectarian in¬ 
fluences, this consideration is doubtless the prevailing one. 
The thought of entrusting the lives and the training of young 
children to men who may be drawn from the ranks of “ ward 
heelers ” is justly alarming to all thoughtful citizens. As we 
have indicated, however, in our consideration of State systems, 
experience does not show that State institutions for children 
have suffered largely from political influences. It has also to 
be borne in mind that even private institutions which are 
largely dependent upon the public for support are not wholly 
removed from political influences, and that public appropria¬ 
tions to private charities have more than once proved to be the 
source of serious political evils. 

b. That it enlists the interest of public spirited and benevo¬ 
lent citizens, who as managers of the institutions or otherwise 
connected therewith will visit them frequently, give careful at¬ 
tention to their administration, and in many cases take an ac¬ 
tive interest in the welfare of individual children. There is 
some truth in this claim, though many of these citizens would 
be equally interested, and perhaps more so, if the institutions 
received no public aid. Nor are State institutions lacking in 
power to attract the interest and elicit, the active efforts of some 

i of the best citizens in their communities. 

v 


DESTITUTE, NEGLECTED AND DELINQUENT CHILDREN 87 

c \ That the removal of the children from all connection with 
poor law administration and public officials saves them from 
being- known in the community as “ pauper children.’^} This 
is clearly a great advantage as compared with the almshouse 
systepi or any system in which the children are kept in institu¬ 
tions -in any way connected with almshouse administration. 
This (%im does not hold, however, in comparison with the 
State public school system. It may fairly be questioned whether 
the attitude of the community toward the children in the 
State public schools is 'not distinctly more favorable than to¬ 
wards those in orphan asylums, protectories, and other similar 
institutions. 

d. That it is economical. It is claimed that private institu¬ 
tions are more economically, not to say honestly, managed 
than public ones, and that the per capita allowance made by 
the public authorities is distinctly less than would be required 
to support the children in public institutions. 

DISADVANTAGES. 

It is urged against the subsidy system: 

a. That it encourages parents to throw their children upon 
the public for support, because they naturally have much 
greater confidence in private institutions, especially when man¬ 
aged by persons of their own religious faith and vouched for 
by their spiritual advisors. This tendency is further strength¬ 
ened by the fact that this plan creates a large number of insti¬ 
tutions, scattered throughout the State, thus permitting chil¬ 
dren to be kept near their former homes and subject to frequent 
visitation by their parents. While this is an advantage in car¬ 
ing for children whose parents should be encouraged to visit 
them, it is a decided disadvantage in dealing with those who 
should be separated from their parents during their entire 
childhood. 

That it removes all incentive for keeping the number in 
the institutions small, either by careful sifting of applications 


88 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


for admission or by maintaining an active placing-out system. 
This is especially true under the per capita system when the 
per capita payment nearly or quite equals, or even exceeds, the 
cost of maintenance. This tendency, with the one previously 
mentioned, results in a constant increase in the number of chib 
dren in institutions, increasing the public burden indefinitely, 
and subjecting large numbers of children to the unnatural in¬ 
fluences of institutional life, when they might better be cared 
for by their own parents or placed out in families for adoption. 
The history of the contract system in New York, California, 
and elsewhere, proves that it is exceedingly difficult, though 
we are not ready to say that it is impossible, to restrain these 
tendencies. 

c. The contract or subsidy system makes proper classification 
of children difficult. If the institutions were all under one man¬ 
agement, it would be easy to distribute the inmates among 
them on some rational classification, which would aid in se¬ 
curing their proper mental and moral training. This is next 
to impossible when each institution is a law unto itself. One 
of the most serious and persistent evils of the New York system 
is the mingling of destitute, neglected, and delinquent children 
in the same institutions. This is so obviously contrary to every 
sound principle, both of charitable relief and of reformatory 
treatment, that one can but wonder that it continues to exist 
and to find strenuous supporters among some of the New York 
institutions. 

d • It is also urged that the subsidy system tends to produce 
relations between the State and sectarian institutions which 
are contrary to the spirit of our government and which diminish 
the separation between church and State. 

d. THE BOARDING-OUT AND PLACING-OUT SYSTEM. 

Massachusetts and Pennsylvania have systems of caring for 
destitute children which differ from all the preceding, in that 
the children are boarded in private families until permanent 


DESTITUTE, NEGLECTED AND DELINQUENT CHILDREN 89 

free homes in families are found for them. The two States differ 
radically in that the former does the work directly through its 
own officials, while the latter works through a private society, 
the children’s aid society of Pennsylvania. 

It will be remembered that the opening of the last quarter 
of the century found Massachusetts with her State juvenile 
paupers collected in the State primary school at Monson, except 
that some seventy-five remained at the State almshouse -at 
Tewksbury, and a less number at the third State almshouse, 
now called the State farm, at Bridgewater. There was also a 
State visiting agency charged with the supervision of about a 
thousand children placed out in families from the State primary 
school and the two State reformatories. The various cities and 
towns cared for their poor, adult and juvenile, as they chose. 
In 1879 the State work was reorganized, the State primary 
school and the State reform schools being placed under a board 
of trustees, and the visiting agency was abolished, its duties 
being assigned to the State board of health, lunacy, and charity, 
which board was also given general supervision over all the 
State charitable institutions, hospitals for the insane, and the 
reform schools just mentioned. 

In 1882 the custom of boarding out a few children from the 
State primary school was begun. In that year legislation was 
enacted for the commitment to the custody of the State board 
of neglected children (between three and sixteen years of age) 
by the courts. In the following year legislation was enacted 
for the commitment to the board of infants under three years 
of age by overseers of the poor. All these children were, as a 
rule, placed temporarily in the State primary school, and later 
placed out in families with or without board. From time to 
time laws have been enacted extending the classification of 
children committed to the custody of the State board of chari¬ 
ties. In 1880 a law was enacted for the commitment of found¬ 
lings to their care. These children were, after 1884, placed 
directly in families at board. Gradually, as the boarding-out 


90 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


and placing-out systems developed, it was found possible to 
decrease the numbers remaining in the State primary school. 
In 1876 this institution sheltered 485 children; on September 
30, 1894, the number had been reduced to 121. The number of 
children boarded in families had meanwhile increased to 582, 
and the number self-supporting in families to 1,459. By 1894 
the State board of charities had placed so many children from 
the State primary schools in families that the abolition of the 
school was possible,' and in 1895, "at the suggestion of the 
trustees of State institutions, the buildings were given over to 
the State to be used as a hospital for epileptics, most of the 
remaining children being placed in families at board. Since that 
date Massachusetts has cared for its destitute and neglected 
children who are State charges wholly in families, and boarding 
places have been secured for a few of the younger children com¬ 
mitted to the reform schools. 

Notwithstanding the new classes of children who have been 
added to the State list, the number of children maintained at 
State expense has increased only from 1,142 in 1876 to 1,634 
in 1898, including, in both years, inmates of reform schools, 
while the number of children under the supervision of the State, 
but self-supporting in families, increased from 1,000 in 1876 
to 1,645 * n 1898. The percentage of juvenile State charges in 
institutions, in free homes, and in boarding homes, in 1876 and 
in 1898, are as follows: 1 

1876. 1898. 

Per cent. Per cent. 


In institutions. 51 15 

In families without board. 47 55 

In families with board. 2 30 


In the city of Boston, destitute and neglected children were 
maintained in 1875 at the house of industry (almshouse and 
workhouse) on Deer island, except that the older pauper boys 
were in one wing of the house of reformation. Although proba¬ 
bly not in actual association with adult paupers, the fact that 

1 This whole matter is very clearly set forth in a chart opposite page 41 
of the nineteenth annual report of the state board of lunacy and charity. 






DESTITUTE, NEGLECTED AND DELINQUENT CHILDREN 91 

they were on the same island and under the same authorities, 
associated the two classes in the public mind. In 1877 a distinct 
advance was made by the removal of the boys to what had been 
the Roxhtrry almshouse, but which now became the Marcella 
street children's home. On March 1, 1878, there were 618 
children under the care of the city — 160 “pauper children,” 
128 neglected children, 120 truants, and 210 juvenile offenders. 
In 1881 another advance was made by removing to a building 
near the Marcella street home, and thereafter reckoned as a 
part of it, the pauper and neglected girls from Deer island — 
the final separation, territorially, of destitute children from pau¬ 
per adults in Boston, although they remained under the same 
administrative control until June, 1897, when the children were 
placed under the control of a board of seven unpaid trustees. 
About 1889, the city also began to board out the younger chil¬ 
dren, especially infants. Agents were employed also for find¬ 
ing free homes for children. On January 31, 1898, there were 
420 children under supervision by the city children’s department 
in free homes, and 325 in boarding homes. On the same date 
there were only 160 children in the Marcella street home, the 
number having been reduced from 321 earlier in the year, by 
the extension of the placing-out and boarding-out systems. 
Later in the year, in November, 1898, the Marcella street home 
was discontinued altogether, the children being placed out in 
families. Thus by a natural development of the institutional 
and placing-out systems, side by side, the city of Boston, in 
1898, followed the example of the State, which, four years 
earlier, had abandoned its State primary school, both city and 
State thus arriving by gradual stages at the plan of caring for all 
destitute and neglected children in family homes. The parental 
(truant) school, which had been differentiated from the house of 
reformation on Deer island in 1877, was removed therefrom to 
West Roxbury in May, 1895, another step in classification. 

In the cities and towns of Massachusetts, other than Boston, 
destitute children are under the charge of overseers of the poor. 


92 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


and are either kept in almshouses or placed in families to board, 
or in free homes, or boarded in institutions. Children can not 
be leg-ally retained in an almshouse for a longer period than 
two months unless they are (i) under four years of age; (2) 
under eight years of age, with their mothers; or (3) so de¬ 
fective in body or mind as to render their retention in the alms¬ 
house desirable. In a few instances the children are cared for 
through the Boston children’s aid society. The State board 
of charities is charged with the duty of visiting, at least once 
each year, children supported by cities and towns. If children 
are retained in almshouses contrary to law, the State board is 
authorized to remove them therefrom, and to charge the cost 
of their support to the town of their settlement. The number 
of children fully supported by public authorities in the State on 
March 31, 1898, was as follows: 



By the State. 

By the city of Boston. 

By other cities and towns.-. 


56 i ,349 

18 461 

203 385 


2 77 2,195 


This State thus cares for one and a half times as many children 
as the cities and towns, including Boston. For some years 
the State board of charities has recommended that the system 
be unified and that all destitute and neglected children become 
wards of the State, supported from State funds, and under the 
control of the State board of charities. There was a consider¬ 
able movement for making the State board of lunacy and 
charity a strictly supervisory body and for creating a State 
children’s department, which should be known as the children’s 
bureau, with trustees appointed by the governor, their work to 
be under the supervision of the State board of charity. This 
failed to pass the legislature, and the executive care of the 
children in the State board’s custody or care remains without 
supervision by any independent board. On July 1, 1898, the 











DESTITUTE, NEGLECTED AND DELINQUENT CHILDREN 93 

State board reorganized its work by abolishing its previous de¬ 
partments of indoor and outdoor poor, and creating a superin¬ 
tendent of State adult poor and a superintendent of State minor 
wards, thus collecting all children in its custody under one ad¬ 
ministrative control. 

PENNSYLVANIA. 

Pennsylvania, when the “ children’s law ” was passed in 1883, 
left the local authorities to provide for the children as best they 
might. Although the State subsidizes many private institu¬ 
tions, it does so on the general ground that they are doing good 
and presumably preventing persons from becoming public 
charges, and not because the institutions receive and care for 
public dependents. The county system of poor relief prevails 
in some forty-nine counties, the town system in eighteen of the 
most sparsely settled counties. By a happy coincidence, there 
had been organized, a year before the passage of the children’s 
law, the progressive children’s aid society of Pennsylvania, 
which at once offered to assist the local authorities in caring for 
their children. In many of the counties, including the large 
cities, this offer was accepted, and the resulting plan may, with 
exceptions noted later, be regarded as the Pennsylvania system. 
The children’s aid society has at no time in its history conducted 
an institution, but has relied wholly upon the boarding-out and 
placing-out systems, except for feeble-minded or persistently 
vicious children, or for those needing hospital treatment. The 
co-operation with'the city and county of Philadelphia has been 
its most important work. The destitute children who are ac¬ 
cepted as public charges by an agent of the charities depart¬ 
ment, are either sent directly to the societies office, or sent for 
not more than sixty days to the children’s asylum across the 
road from the almshouse. They are placed at board in families, 
selected by the society, and nearly always in the country. The 
city pays the society $2 per week for their care while boarding. 
The society pays the families from $175 to $2.50 per week, 


94 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


besides furnishing clothing, medical attendance, and other ex¬ 
penses. While boarding, the children are visited by an agent of 
the city department and by the society’s agents, both of which 
endeavor also to find free homes for such of the children as are 
not soon to be returned to their parents. Catholic children 
are, however, generally sent to catholic institutions, the city 
agent retaining control of them and returning them to parents 
or relatives, or placing them in free homes, as circumstances 
warrant. Under this plan the number of children supported by 
the city has remained very small; in fact, being very little in 
excess of the number of children in the almshouse seventy-five 
years ago. On May 22, 1826, there were 145 children in the 
children’s asylum at the almshouse; on July 1, 1899, the city was 
supporting eighty-three children in private families and 100 in 
institutions. The cost to the city is proportionately slight, and 
the children in free or boarding homes are undoubtedly under 
the most favorable circumstances for their development. That 
the system thus outlined has been most humane and beneficent 
in its effect upon the children under its care is undoubted. That 
it has reduced the public expenditure to a minimum is also true. 
The element of weakness in the plan, regarded as a system for 
the State, is that it is dependent upon voluntary co-operation 
between the local officials in sixty-three counties and a private 
society — or rather several societies, since the original society 
has divided into several branches, the parent society remaining 
by far the largest and most active. This renders it impossible 
to secure a uniformly efficient system in all parts of the State. 
Two counties built children’s homes under the control of their 
poor law authorities, two others board out their children under 
their own care, while eleven counties place their children in 
institutions with per capita payment for their care until free 
homes are found. Even Philadelphia places its catholic children 
in institutions, and for the last three or four years has placed 
nearly half of its protestant children in a children’s home instead 


DESTITUTE, NEGLECTED AND DELINQUENT CHILDREN 95 

of in families under the care of the children’s aid society. Ad¬ 
mirable as the co-operation between the children’s aid society 
and certain of the counties has been, it does not cover the State 
as a whole, and, it is to be feared, lacks the elements of authority 
and permanence. 1 

NEW JERSEY. 

In New Jersey, until 1899, destitute children were city and 
town charges and were provided for, either by being kept in 
the almshouses, as they were to the number of about 500, or by 
being placed in families by indenture, or by being placed in 
private institutions at a per capita rate, the latter plan, how¬ 
ever, not being used extensively. In 1895 the governor op- 
pointed a commission to investigate the subject, which com¬ 
mission reported to the legislature of 1897 a bill for the creation 
of a State board of children’s guardians. The bill failed of 
passage in 1897, but became a law in 1899. The governor ap¬ 
points a board of seven persons, to whose custody all children 
becoming public charges are committed. The children are to 
be placed in families at board until free homes can be found. 
The board of the children is, however, to be paid by the counties 
from which the children come. It is too early to report upon 
the operations of this act, but they will be followed with great 
interest by all students of the subject. 

OTHER STATES. 

The States of Illinois and Missouri, notwithstanding their 
large cities, have been singularly backward in making any public 
provision for destitute and neglected children. Neither State 
forbids the retention of children in almshouses. In Illinois the 
poor, including children, are a county charge, and children are 
kept in almshouses, placed directly in families, placed in the 
care of placing-out societies with a per capita allowance 
usually $50 — for expenses of placing out, or, especially in 

^The work of the children’s aid society for other than public charges 
will be alluded to later. 





AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


96 

Cook county (Chicago), placed in private institutions, being 
paid for by a per capita rate.. The number of children so sup¬ 
ported is not large, owing, perhaps, to constitutional limitation 
of such appropriations. An unsuccessful effort was made in 
1888 to secure the establishment of a State public school for de¬ 
pendent children. Conditions are much the same in Missouri, 
except that many destitute children are sent to the reform school 
maintained by the city of St. Louis. 

In the States not already mentioned in this chapter there are 
no public systems of caring for destitute children except out¬ 
door relief, almshouses, and occasional placing out in families 
either directly or through a placing-out society. This list in¬ 
cludes the following States: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, 
Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North 
Carolina, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Ver¬ 
mont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, and Wyoming. 

VI — NEGLECTED CHILDREN. 

The statutes in force prior to the opening of the nineteenth 
century indicate that children rarely became the subjects of 
public care except because of the poverty o their parents, or 
their own wrongdoing. The statutes of Massachusetts did, in¬ 
deed. in a special poor law, passed in 1735 for the city of Boston, 
because that town had “ grown considerably populous and the 
idle and poor much increased among them,” provide that when 
persons “ were unable, or neglected to provide necessaries for 
the sustenance and support of their children,” such children 
might be bound out by the overseers, and that “ where persons 
bring up their children in such gross ignorance that they do 
not know, or are not able to distinguish, the alphabet, or 
twenty-four letters, at the age of six years,” the overseers 
might bind out such children to good families “ for a decent 
and Christian education.” We have no knowledge as to how 
many children were actually bound out under this remarkable 
statute. Numerous instances are found in the statutes of 


DESTITUTE, NEGLECTED AND DELINQUENT CHILDREN 97 

various States from 1790 to 1825, authorizing the binding out, 
or commitment to almshouses, of children found begging on 
the streets, or whose parents were beggars. A general statute 
to this effect was passed in New York in 1824. From about 
1825 there came a more and more general recognition and prac¬ 
tical application of the principle that it is the right and duty of 
the public authorities to intervene in cases of parental cruelty, 
or gross neglect seriously endangering the health, morals, or 
elementary education of children, and to remove the children by 
force if necessary, and place them under surroundings more 
favorable for their development. Such action, prompted by 
philanthropic instincts, finds justification in the fact that 
neglected childhood is a danger to the State. Step by step 
statutory authority has been gained for the rescue of neglected 
children; the definition of the term has been made more and 
more precise, and at the same time inclusive; agencies have been 
created for the enforcement of these laws; and institutions 
established for the care of the children. The law amending the 
charter of New York city, passed in 1833, provided that the 
mayor, recorder, or any two aldermen, or two special justices, 
might commit to the almshouse, or other suitable place, for 
labor and instruction, any child found in a state of want or 
suffering, or abandonment, or improperly exposed or neglected 
by its parents or .other person having the same in charge, or 
soliciting charity from door to door, or whose mother was a 
notoriously immoral woman. It is commonly supposed that 
these statutes were of much later origin. 

The Massachusetts law of 1866 provided that children under 
sixteen years of age who, by reason of the neglect, crime, 
drunkenness, or other vices of parents, were suffered to be 
growing up without salutary parental control and education, 
or in circumstances exposing them to lead idle and dissolute 
lives, might be committed by the proper court to the place 
designated for such purpose by the city. In 1882 a law was 
passed providing for the commitment of neglected children, 
7 


98 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


between three and sixteen years of age, directly to the custody 
of the State board of charities. 

In 1877 New York passed a law, at the suggestion of the 
society for the prevention of cruelty to children, entitled an act 
for the protection of children and to prevent and punish certain 
wrongs of children, which was in part adapted from the indus¬ 
trial act of England. Subsequently, these provisions were em¬ 
bodied in the penal code, and have from time to time been 
extended. 

Statutes of somewhat similar character have been enacted in 
nearly all the States of the Union. One of the best is that of 
Michigan, passed in 1889. The sections describing the classes 
of children who may be committed, because of ill-treatment, 
to the State public school are drawn with great detail, and are 
among the most comprehensive that have found place in the 
statute books. In Michigan such cases are tried before the 
judges of probated 

The care of neglected as well as destitute children has been 
a friotive in the founding of many of the private and public 
child-saving agencies from the early part of the century. The 
juvenile reformatories, though established primarily for actual 
offenders and to prevent the commitment of such to prisons 
with adults, received also neglected and destitute children, and 
their charters in many cases authorized the commitment of such 
children to them. The fifth annual report of the New York 
house of refuge, 1830, says: “The legislature has very much 
enlarged the objects of our institution. * * * If a child 

be found destitute; if abandoned by its parents, or suffered to 
lead a vicious or vagrant life; or if convicted of any crime, it 
may be sent to the house of refuge.” We have already noted 
that early in the seventies neglected children were being com¬ 
mitted to the pauper institutions of Boston. Separate statistics 
of the pauper and neglected children have been kept by Boston 
from that time to the present. The State schools for dependent 
children, though originally established for destitute children. 


DESTITUTE, NEGLECTED AND DELINQUENT CHILDREN 99 

have at later dates been authorized to receive neglected children. 
In New York the penal code, enacted in 1880, authorized the 
commitment of various classes of neglected children to “ any 
incorporated charitable or reformatory institution.” 

SOCIETIES FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO CHILDREN. 

The enforcement of laws for the rescue of neglected children, 
as well as the enactment of further legislation, received a great 
impetus from the organization of societies for the prevention 
pf cruelty to children, the first of which was established in New 
^York city in 1875. Curiously enough, societies for the pre¬ 
vention of cruelty to animals were in existence for eight years 
before similar societies for the protection of children were or¬ 
ganized. The American society for the prevention of cruelty to 
animals was organized in New York city in 1866; similar socie¬ 
ties followed in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania in 1868, in 
Maryland and Illinois in 1869, an d i n several other cities in 
1871. The New York society for the prevention of cruelty to 
children was organized in January, 1875, and incorporated in 
April, 1875, under a general law passed that year for the incor¬ 
poration of such societies. Other societies followed in the order 
named: 

1875, Rochester. 

1876, Portsmouth. 

1876, San Francisco. 

1877, Philadelphia. 

1878, Boston. 

1878, Baltimore. 

1879, Buffalo. 

1879, Wilmington, Del. 

1880, Brooklyn. 

1880, Richmond county, N. Y. 

In some cities, societies originally incorporated for the pro¬ 
tection of animals added to their objects the protection of 
children. In others, new societies, often called humane societies, 
were organized for both purposes. The total number of so¬ 
cieties in the United States in 1900 devoted exclusively to the 


TOO 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


protection of children, or to the protection of both children 
and animals, is 157. 1 In 1877 the societies for the protection 
of animals organized the American humane association, which 
holds an annual convention for the discussion of topics relating 
to the prevention of cruelty. Societies for the protection of 
children were admitted to this association in 1887. 

The primary work of these societies has been that of investi¬ 
gating cases of alleged cruelty or neglect, and the presentation 
of the facts to the courts, authorized to consider such cases. 
In New York, but not elsewhere, so far as known, unless in 
exceptional cases, the society for the prevention of cruelty to 
children has, in its co-operation with the courts, included also 
the investigation of cases of destitution. 

The New York society has had an exceptional history. Its 
first annual report stated that there were already in existence 
many institutions and societies for the care of children, but 
that it was not their business to seek out and to rescue children 
whose lives were rendered miserable by constant abuse and 
cruelty. The laws for the prevention of cruelty to children were 
considered ample, but it was nobody’s business to enforce the 
laws. To this task the new society addressed itself. In addi¬ 
tion to seeking to discover cases of cruelty and neglect, it sta¬ 
tioned agents in all the magistrates’ courts, to investigate all 
cases involving children, whether for destitution, neglect, 
cruelty, or waywardness. Through these agents it has advised 
the magistrates, not only as to whether commitment should be 
made, but as to what institutions the children should be com¬ 
mitted to. Subsequently, the children were placed under the 
care of the society pending investigation, and the agents of the 
society were given the powers of police officers. Though the 
power to discharge the children was vested in the managers of 
the institutions, they, often regarding the society for the pre¬ 
vention of cruelty to children as the real authority through 

1 See list in report of New York society for the prevention of cruelty 
to children, 1899. 




DESTITUTE, NEGLECTED AND DELINQUENT CHILDREN IOI 

which the children had been sent to them, usually did not 
discharge the children either to their parents or by adoption, 
or indenture, without consulting the society, and in some cases 
took no action in reference to discharge until so requested by 
the society. This society thus became, by 1890, the factor 
which actually controlled the reception, care, and disposition 
of destitute, neglected, and wayward children in New York city, 
thus practically controlling the lives of an average number of 
about fifteen thousand children, and an average annual expendi¬ 
ture for their support of more than one and one-half million 
dollars. Its influence has done more to strengthen and per¬ 
petuate the subsidy system, as it existed prior to 1894, than 
any other one factor. Since additional powers have been con¬ 
ferred upon the charities commissioners by the State board of 
charities, acting under the revised constitution, the activities 
of the society, so far as destitute children are concerned, have 
been somewhat restricted. 

These societies have, in a number of large cities, provided 
temporary shelters for children coming under their care. As a 
rule the societies have been at first supported wholly by private 
funds, but latterly the societies in New York, Philadelphia, 
Wilmington, Brooklyn, and probably other cities, have received 
some aid from public sources. 

The influence of the “ cruelty ” societies as a whole has been 
in favor of the care of children in institutions rather than by 
placing them in families. So far as known, none of the societies 
have undertaken the continued care of the children rescued by 
them, but all have turned them over to the care of institutions 
or societies incorporated for the care of children. By a vigorous 
enforcement of the laws authorizing the commitment of 
vagrant, begging, and various other classes of exposed children, 
they have very largely increased the numbers of children be¬ 
coming wards of public or private charity. Usually they have 
not co-operated to any extent with placing-out societies, per¬ 
haps because of being continually engaged in breaking up fam- 


102 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


ilies of bad character, but have rather become the feeders of 
institutions, both reformatory and charitable. The New York 
society during 1899 placed fifteen children in homes or situa¬ 
tions; during the same period 2,113 children were, upon its 
recommendation, committed to institutions. Constantly oc¬ 
cupied with questions involving the custody of children, they 
have not unnaturally preferred to place the children rescued by 
them within the walls of institutions, where possession is at 
least nine points of the law, rather than trust to a measure of 
uncertainty necessarily involved in the placing-out system. 
Without detracting from the great credit due to such societies 
for the rescue of children from cruel parents or immoral sur¬ 
roundings, it must be said that their influence in the upbuilding 
of very large institutions, and their very general failure to urge 
the benefits of adoption for young children, have been un¬ 
fortunate. Probably their greatest beneficence has been, not 
to the children who have come under their care, but to the 
vastly larger number whose parents have restrained angry tem¬ 
pers and vicious impulses though fear of the “ cruelty.” 

BOARDS OF CHILDREN’S GUARDIANS. 

As indicated by their name, the societies for the prevention of 
cruelty to children are private corporations; their boards of 
managers are independent of official appointment. In only one 
State have governmental bodies been created to perform the 
duties elsewhere assumed by these societies. In the State of 
Indiana, a law of 1889 authorized the appointment of boards 
of children’s guardians in townships (changed in 1891 to 
counties) having a population of more than seventy-five thou¬ 
sand. In 1893 the law was made applicable to counties having 
more than fifty thousand population, of which there are four in 
the State, in all of which such boards have been organized. 
Each board is composed of six persons, three of whom must 
be women; the members are appointed by the circuit court. 
The boards not only investigate cases of alleged cruelty and 


DESTITUTE, NEGLECTED AND DELINQUENT CHILDREN IO3 

neglect, and bring such to trial, but also undertake the subse¬ 
quent oversight of the children, placing them in temporary- 
homes, managed directly by the boards, or in institutions man¬ 
aged by others, or in families. A bill introduced in 1899 to 
make possible the appointment of such boards in counties hav¬ 
ing less than fifty thousand population failed of passage. 

VII —PRIVATE CHARITIES FOR CHILDREN, 
1875-1900. 

The development of private charities during the last quarter 
of the century has been variously affected in different States by 
the policies adopted by the public authorities for the care of 
children who are public charges. Where public institutions, 
especially State institutions, have been established for the care 
of children permanently separated from their parents,'{the pri¬ 
vate charities have gradually turned their attention to the tem¬ 
porary care of children, :or to the care of<^ome special class) of 
children not fully provided for by the public, or to the develop¬ 
ment of special lines of instruction, Emphasizing their educa¬ 
tional rather than their charitable features. Where the subsidy 
plan has been adopted, the institutions wholly supported by pri¬ 
vate funds have usually ceased to be an important factor in the 
situation, and the subsidized institutions have increased in num¬ 
bers and size, without much specialization in purpose. The plan 
tends to increase the number of institutions receiving about 
the same classes of children and caring for them by the same 
methods. A tendency to differentiation and specialization of 
private charities is undoubtedly better for the children and for 
the community. 

During the early part of the last quarter of the century, 
children’s institutions multiplied rapidly in all parts of the 
country. Forty were incorporated in New York alone in the 
fifteen years, 1875-90. Since 1883 the consent of the State 
board of charities has been necessary for the incorporation of 
such institutions, and several needless and unworthy applica- 


104 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


tions have been denied. In Philadelphia, only nine new insti¬ 
tutions were incorporated in the interval 1875 to 1893, the last 
date for which the figures are available. Four of the nine were 
under the charge of various protestant denominations. In Bos¬ 
ton, some eleven institutions, none of them large, and all of 
them entirely supported by private funds, have been organized 
since 1875. Several of these have recently employed placing- 
out agents, or have established co-operation with the Boston 
children’s aid society. The Massachusetts infant asylum, which 
at first received State aid, has for many years been supported 
wholly by private funds. 

Although exact statistics are not available, it seems certain 
that there has been a marked diminution in the number of new 
institutions organized during the last decade. 

children’s aid societies. 

This seems to be due largely to the influence of the agencies 
which have favored the placing-out system, and to the remark¬ 
able success which has attended that system in many States. 
The New York children’s aid society has continued its placing- 
out work to the present, though its co-operation with public 
authorities very greatly decreased after about 1875, the prin¬ 
cipal reason being that inasmuch as the society declined to 
take into account the religious faith of the children in selecting 
homes, it met with violent opposition from many sources. The 
children placed out by it in recent years have been received 
largely through its lodging houses, or from protestant institu¬ 
tions, or from parents. 

One of the most influential of the placing-out societies has 
been the Boston children’s aid society. The principal work of 
this society from 1863 to 1885 was the maintenance of an ex¬ 
cellent farm school for wayward boys, known as Pine farm, with 
an oversight over the boys placed in families or returned to 
their parents, from this school. The report for 1884 notes the 
need of an additional farm school, and also of sending some 


DESTITUTE, NEGLECTED AND DELINQUENT CHILDREN 105 

children directly to country homes. In 1886 a country home, 
in which a few boys had been boarded, was developed into a 
second farm school, and a third was established soon after. 
The girls under the care of the society were sent directly to 
.families. The number of destitute and neglected children, not 
requiring even the training of the farm school, but who could 
be placed directly in private families, rapidly increased. Some 
of these children were placed in free homes, many received 
wages, and others were boarded in families. This society was 
among the first to develop a careful, systematic, and satisfac¬ 
tory plan for the investigation of the character and circum¬ 
stances of families applying for children, and has exerted a 
powerful influence in raising the standards of placing-out work, 
not only in Massachusetts, but also in other States. On Octo¬ 
ber 1, 1891, 255 children were under the care of this society 
in families, sixty in the three farm schools, 168 in their own 
homes, and twenty-seven in institutions. In 1892 one of the 
three farm schools was discontinued, one-third of its pupils 
being sent to the other farm schools, and the remainder, with 
one exception, placed in families. The report for 1896 notes 
the closing of another of the farm schools, a step due partially 
to the fact that the location had become undesirable for the 
purpose, and also that additional provision had been made in 
other ways for this class of children. The report for 1899 con¬ 
tains the final report of the third and last farm school, due 
partly to the smaller number of wayward boys coming under 
the care of the society and partly to other causes. The num¬ 
ber of children under the care of the placing-out agency on 
October 1, 1899, was 289, of whom 132 were in boarding homes, 
82 in free homes, 43 were receiving wages, and 32 were other¬ 
wise placed. There were also under supervision 360 other 
children, of whom 277 were in their own homes. The im¬ 
portant work done by this society through its probation agency, 


io6 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


its bureau of information, and its home libraries and other 
agencies for improving the condition of children in their own 
homes, does not fall within the scope of this paper. 

The co-operation of the children’s aid society of Pennsylvania 
with public authorities has already been described. In addi¬ 
tion to this it receives a large number of needy or semi-wayward 
children directly from parents, and some from magistrates, 
all of whom are supported by voluntary contributions, from 
which source the funds for the running expenses of the society 
are also met. This society has also worked out very careful 
plans for investigating applications for children, and for exer¬ 
cising oversight over placed-out children. The Henry Watson 
children’s aid society of Baltimore also has strengthened its 
placing-out work, and extended its co-operation with institu¬ 
tions, during the past three years. A children’s aid society or¬ 
ganized in Rochester, in 1895, somewhat on the plan of the 
Philadelphia society, has done excellent work. A similar 
agency has been maintained by the Newburgh, N. Y., com¬ 
mittee of the State charities aid association since 1893. 

OTHER PLACING-OUT SOCIETIES. 

In 1885, a society called the American educational aid asso¬ 
ciation, afterwards called the national children’s home society, 
was organized, with an office in Chicago. Although placing- 
out was not its original object, it found this field more attrac¬ 
tive, and founded a number of State organizations for such 
work. The society soon became a loose federation of State 
organizations whose work differed greatly in character and 
merit. Societies were organized in some States already amply 
provided with placing-out agencies, and the character and 
methods of the promoters of the national organization were not 
always such as to commend themselves to thoughtful people. 
In some cases the State organizations passed into the hands of 
incompetent, if not untrustworthy, people. In other States 
much good has been accomplished and more careful methods 


DESTITUTE, NEGLECTED AND DELINQUENT CHILDREN IO7 

have been introduced. The Illinois branch has recently been 
reorganized, and with the aid of its efficient secretary has done 
and will do much to improve the situation in that State. The 
work of the Minnesota, Ohio, Wisconsin, and South Dakota 
branches has also been commended. The organization as a 
whole has done much to popularize the placing-out plan, and 
has created a public opinion in its favor which has had a favor¬ 
able reflex action upon many public and private institutions. 

The boys and girls’ aid society of California was organized in 
San Francisco in 1874 to undertake the work carried on so 
successfully by the New York children’s aid society. It has, 
however, devoted most of its energies to the maintenance of a 
temporary home for children. 

In 1885, a boys and girls’ aid society was organized in Port¬ 
land, Ore. This society has a temporary home for the recep¬ 
tion of destitute and neglected children, from which they are 
placed out as soon as possible. During 1899, 351 children 
were received, and the average period of residence in the home 
was only one month. 

A method akin to placing out, which has met much success 
in Boston for the past twenty years, and for shorter periods in 
Philadelphia, New York, and elsewhere, is that of placing 
homeless mothers of young children in situations in the country 
with their children. This avoids making either mother or child 
a charge upon charity, gives the child the advantage of a 
mother’s care, and the mother the moral benefit of keeping 
and caring for her child. In Boston this work has been carried 
on as an individual charity, in Philadelphia by the children’s 
aid society, and in New York by the State charities aid asso¬ 
ciation. 

CHILDREN’S COMMUNITIES. 

Among the institutions recently established and worthy of 
special note is the George junior republic at Freeville, Tomp¬ 
kins county, N. Y. The plan is that of organizing the children 
in a miniature republic, and thus teaching them the nature of 


108 AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 

government and respect for law. There is also a special cur¬ 
rency and a system of payment for services, and for living ex¬ 
penses, by which the children are taught the necessity of labor, 
and made to feel the effects of idleness. The experiment is of 
great value in demonstrating the extent to which such methods 
can be introduced in institutions. While not distinctly a re¬ 
formatory institution, the children are mostly of a class who 
otherwise would be committed for correctional treatment. 

As an institution which has made a special and successful 
effort to give agricultural training, the McDonough farm school 
at McDonough, Md., should be mentioned. The Foulke and 
Long institute in Philadelphia has made special effort to pro¬ 
vide training in domestic science to girls. The Williamson 
trade school, near Philadelphia, an endowed institution incor¬ 
porated in 1888 and opened several years later, is in many re¬ 
spects similar to Girard college. 

The Samuel Ready asylum for orphan girls, of Baltimore, 
opened in 1887, has an endowment of half a million dollars and 
valuable real estate. Admission is by competitive examination. 
The girls are kept until eighteen years of age, and are taught 
dressmaking, typewriting, bookkeeping, music, or other means 
of earning a livelihood. The Egenton female orphan asylum, 
also of Baltimore, opened in 1880, receives an annual income 
of $10,000 from its endowment. It, too, aims to receive the 
more promising class of orphans, and to give them special train¬ 
ing. It is about to move from the city to the country. A 
similar step is being taken by the Roman catholic orphan asy¬ 
lum of New York, which is the oldest of the Roman catholic 
institutions in New York, and is supported by private funds. 
The former site given by the city has, however, become ex¬ 
tremely valuable, and will not only provide funds for new and 
better buildings, but will add to the endowment. 

The Cincinnati children’s home, the Cleveland protestant or¬ 
phan asylum, and, to a less degree, the Chicago orphan asylum, 


DESTITUTE, NEGLECTED AND DELINQUENT CHILDREN IO9 

have laid special stress upon the temporary care of children 
and placing them in families at an early age. The Rose or¬ 
phans’ home at Terre Haute, Ind., and the Washburn memorial 
orphan asylum of Minneapolis have paid greater attention to 
institutional care. In Chicago there are now twenty-three 
homes and asylums for children supported by private donations, 
a large majority of which have been founded since 1875. There 
are also in or near the city four “ industrial schools,” two for 
boys and two for girls, largely supported by public funds, and 
one foundling asylum. 

The number of institutions and homes for children founded 
by private enterprise and maintained by private charity is so 
large that it is not possible even to mention many excellent 
and notable institutions. Scarcely a city of any size in the 
whole United States is now without some organized effort in 
behalf of destitute children. 

CENSUS OF CHILDREN IN INSTITUTIONS. 

In connection with the census of 1880, Mr. Frederick H. 
Wines prepared a list of homes for children in each State, with 
their census on June 1, 1880. This list of 613 institutions, with 
a total population of 50,579, appears in the International 
Record of Charities and Correction, March and April, 1886, 
and a summary by States may be found in the proceedings of 
the national conference of charities and correction of that year. 

In the census of 1890, the number of inmates of institutions 
for children, not including reformatories, is given by States but 
not by individual institutions. There is also a table giving 
the census of each benevolent institution in the United States, 
but it includes hospitals, homes for the aged, and other chari¬ 
ties, as well as homes for children, and in many cases it is im¬ 
possible to determine the purpose of the institution from its 


name. 


no 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


The following table, compiled from the census returns of 
1880 and 1890, includes both public and private institutions, 
but does not include reformatories nor children in families: 


Number of Children in Charitable Institutions in the United 
States, as Shown by United States Census in 1880 and 1890. 


North Atlantic Division: 

Maine. 

New Hampshire. 

Vermont. 

Massachusetts. 

Rhode Island. 

Connecticut. 

New York. 

New Jersey. 

Pennsylvania. 


South Atlantic Division: 

Delaware. 

Maryland. 

District of Columbia. 

Virginia. 

West Virginia.. 

North Carolina.. 

South Carolina. 

Georgia. .. 

Florida.. 


North Central Division: 

Ohio. 

Indiana... 

Illinois. 

Michigan. 

Wisconsin. 

Minnesota. 

Iowa. 

Missouri. 

North Dakota. 

South Dakota.« 

Nebraska... 

Kansas.. 


No. of Institu¬ 
tions. 
1880. 

No. of children. 

1880. 1890. 

6 

198 

196 

5 

144 

256 

. 2 

176 

203 

45 

3,463 

3,263 

7 

319 

522 

. 11 

466 

728 

127 

18,624 - 

22,653 

20 

1,049 

L574 

69 

7,339 

8,278 

292 

30,778 

37,673 

3 

118 

163 

27 

1,653 

1,459 

II 


818 

380 

13 

354 

. 2 

69 

74 

. 2 

162 

212 

7 

397 

439 

13 

461 

502 

. 1 

4 

16 

79 

3,2i8 

4,063 

47 

4,149 

5,970 

18 

915 

1,762 

21 

L453 

2,703 

14 

747 

1,144 

. 12 

656 

1,117 

5 

126 

897 

3 

190 

568 

24 

1,643 

1,613 

•} X 



• ) 


T T T 

. 2 

55 

111 

161 

147 

9,934 

16,046 













































DESTITUTE, NEGLECTED AND DELINQUENT CHILDREN III 


South Central Division: 

Kentucky. 

Tennessee. 

Alabama. 

Mississippi. 

Louisiana. 

Texas. 


Western Division: 

Colorado. 

New Mexico. 

Nevada. 

Washington. 

Oregon. 

California. 


United States (totals). 


18 

950 

819 

10 

362 

605 

5 

226 

340 

3 

149 

156 

20 

L 99 i 

1,682 

4 

206 

473 

60 

3,884 

3,975 

.... 


212 

1 


107 

2 

187 

49 

2 


184 

4 

69 

105 

26 

2,509 

3,237 

35 

2,765 

3,894 

613 

50,579 

65,651 


In view of the fact that in New York alone the number of 
children in institutions has increased to 35,000, the total census 
of children's homes in the United States in 1900 may be con¬ 
servatively estimated at from 80,000 to 85,000, or, including 
juvenile offenders (numbering 11,107 in 1880, and 14,846 in 
1890), at 100,000. We can only guess at the number of chil¬ 
dren who have been placed in families and now are (or ought to 
be) under the supervision of public authorities or public or 
private institutions or societies. If we were to venture an esti¬ 
mate we should place the number at not less than 50,000. 

VIII — DELINQUENT CHILDREN, 

At the opening of the century there was not in existence in 
the United States a single institution for the reformation of 
juvenile delinquents; children convicted of offences were com¬ 
mitted to jails and prisons along with adult offenders. The 
history of juvenile reformation during the century may be 
epitomized in a sentence — the removal of youthful offenders 
to institutions apart from adults, and their treatment from an 
educational and reformatory, instead of a punitive, point of 


view. 

































112 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


NEW YORK CITY. 

The first institution for juvenile delinquents in this country 
(several were in existence abroad) was established in New York 
city. On December 16, 1817, several prominent citizens met 
at the New York hospital to consider the prevailing causes of 
pauperism. Two months later they organized the society for 
the prevention of pauperism. This society wisely considered, 
very early in its deliberations, the condition of the various city 
institutions, and in its second report, dated December 29, 1819, 
attention was called to the fact that in the Bellevue prison, 
located on the same grounds as the almshouse and city hospital, 
no separation was made between mature and juvenile offenders. 
The report says — “ Here is one great school of vice and 
desperation; with confirmed and unrepentant criminals we place 
these novices in guilt — these unfortunate children from ten 
to fourteen years of age, who from neglect of parents, from 
idleness, or misfortune, have been doomed to the penitentiary 
by condemnation of law.” After asking, “ And is this the place 
for reform? ” the report makes a recommendation, which, 
though at that time a notable step in advance, would now 
raise a storm of indignation if proposed in any one of our 
forty-five States. It proposed the erection, at moderate ex¬ 
pense, of a building, within the penitentiary enclosure, for the 
youthful convicts. The recommendation was not, however, 
carried into effect, and subsequent reports reiterated the folly 
of committing children to prison along with hardened offenders. 

The annual report of the society in 1823 was devoted almost 
wholly to this subject, and advocated the establishment of a 
house of refuge for juvenile offenders, after their discharge from 
prison. In June, 1823, upon the motion of Isaac Collins, after¬ 
ward prominently connected with the Philadelphia house of 
refuge, a committee was appointed to prepare and report at a 
later meeting a detailed plan for a house of refuge — which 


DESTITUTE, NEGLECTED AND DELINQUENT CHILDREN II3 


plan was submitted on December 19, 1823, at a public meet¬ 
ing. The purposes of the institution as outlined in this report 
were: 

1. To furnish, in the first place, an asylum in which boys 
under a certain age, who become subject to the notice of our 
.police, either as vagrants, or houseless, or charged with petty 

crimes, may be received. * * * 

2. The committee have no doubt that were such an institu¬ 
tion once well established and put under good regulations, the 
magistrates would very often deem it expedient to place of¬ 
fenders in the hands of its managers, rather than sentence them 
to the city penitentiary 

3. A third class, which it might be very proper to trans¬ 
plant to such an establishment and distribute through its bet¬ 
ter divisions, are boys, some of whom are of tender age, whose 
parents, either from vice or indolence, are careless of their 
minds and morals, and leave them exposed in rags and filth to 
miserable and scanty fare, destitute of education, and liable to 
become the prey of criminal associates. 

4. Youthful convicts, who on their discharge from prison, at 
the expiration of their sentence, finding themselves without 
character, without subsistence, and ignorant of the means by 
which it is to be sought, have no alternative but to beg or 
steal. 

5. Delinquent females who are either too young to have 
acquired habits of fixed depravity, or those whose lives have 
in general been virtuous. 

The meeting decided to form a society for the reformation of 
juvenile delinquents, and $800 was subscribed for its purposes. 
The active workers in the society for the prevention of pauper¬ 
ism became members of the new society, and the old organiza¬ 
tion ceased to exist. The following March, 1824, the society 
wa§ incorporated by a special act of the legislature. Application 
was made to the city council for a grant of land, and a site con¬ 
taining about four acres, including the space now lying be- 
8 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


114 

tween Fifth and Madison avenues, from Twenty-third to 
Twenty-sixth streets, which had been ceded to the Federal gov¬ 
ernment to be used as an arsenal, was transferred to the society 
for the sum of $6,000, of which $4,000 was subsequently re¬ 
mitted. This site was then about a mile from the outskirts of 
the city, and was surrounded by farms. Here, in the old sol¬ 
diers’ barracks, on January 21, 1825, the first institution for 
the reformation of juvenile delinquents in the United States was 
opened, six girls and three boys having been brought in by 
the police to be cared for. Immediately upon the opening of 
the institution the construction of a separate building for girls 
was begun, and it was dedicated on Christmas day, 1825. The 
State legislature had made an appropriation of $2,000 to the 
institution in 1825; in 1826 an act was passed, authorizing the 
institution to receive children from any city or county in the 
State, and providing that the commissioners of health should 
pay to the institution any surplus from their funds not required 
for the maintenance of the marine hospital. For the first five 
or six years contributions were taken up at the annual meet¬ 
ings, and collected from early subscribers, but after that time 
the receipts were wholly from public sources, State or 
municipal. 

It appears that very early in its history the plan of sending 
children to the west was in vogue. The daily journal kept by 
the superintendent contains the following entry for May 10, 
1828: “ We saw the eight boys for Ohio start in good spirits. 
* * * It excited considerable warm good feeling to see 
so many little fellows bound for such a good and suitable place 
from the house of refuge, among the passengers on board the 
steamboat.”) 

fin an interesting report “ On the penitentiary system in the 
United Statfis^/made by two French writers, Beaumont and de 
Tocqueville, who visited the United States in 1833, considerable 
space is devoted to the New York, Boston, and Philadelphia 
houses of refuge; the plan of the New York institution is com- 


DESTITUTE, NEGLECTED AND DELINQUENT CHILDREN II5 

mended, though the results as stated would not be considered 
very encouraging at the present time. The visitors made an 
inquiry as to the conduct of all the children who had left the 
re £tJge^£nd reported that, “ Of 427 male juvenile offenders sent 
back into society, 85 have conducted themselves well, and the 
conduct of 41 has been excellent; of 34 the information received 
is bad, and of 24 very bad; of 37 among them the information is 
doubtful; of 24 rather good than otherwise, and of 14 rather 
bad than good. Of 86 girls who have returned into society, 37 
have conducted themselves well; 11 in an excellent manner; 22 
bad, and 16 very bad; the information concerning 10 is doubt¬ 
ful; 3 seem to have conducted themselves rather well, and 3 
rather bad than otherwise. Thus of 513 children who have re¬ 
turned from the house of refuge in New York into society more 
than 200 have been saved from infallible ruin.” 

By 1839, the growth of the city had reached the institution, 
and it was proposed to open Twenty-fifth street through its 
grounds. As a result this site was abandoned, and what had 
been known as the Bellevue fever hospital, with a block of 
ground between Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth streets, ex¬ 
tending from First avenue to the East river, was given by the 
city for this purpose. On October 10, 1839, the children were 
removed to the new institution. In the report of this year 
it is remarked that the children are retained for an average 
period of one year, at a per capita expense of $1.27 per week. 

Ten years later, in 1848, the 355 inmates of the institution 
exceeded considerably its proper capacity, and a committee was 
appointed to consider the best mode of providing additional 
accommodations, and also of securing better classification. In 
1850 the committee reported in favor of a change of location, 
and an application was made to the State legislature for aid to 
erect two buildings. The city gave its consent to the sale of 
the property at Twenty-third street and East river and the use 
of the proceeds towards the purchase of another site. Ten and 
one-half acres of land on the west shore of Ward’s island were 


Il6 AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 

first purchased, but before steps were taken for its improvement 
an exchange was made with the city for thirty acres of rocky 
and marshy land on the south shore of Randall’s island. The 
legislature appropriated $50,000 for the erection of new build¬ 
ings, the corner-stone of which was laid November 24, 1852. 

In an address on this occasion one of the speakers stated*, 
alluding to the “ nursery for destitute children,” maintained by 
the city on the same island, “ We mean to be good neighbors, 
only we intend to compete with them in the supply of appren¬ 
tices, and gain, if we can, the reputation of furnishing the most 
useful and best behaved children. Our formidable wall of 
enclosure will protect our children from the contamination of 
theirs, or vice versa, as the case may be.” The sale of the 
Twenty-third street property realized nearly $175,000; the re¬ 
mainder of the total cost of $470,000 was met by the State. On 
the last day of October, 1854, the inmates, 400 in number, 
were removed from Twenty-third street and East river to the 
Randall’s island buildings, which the institution still occupies. 
This combination of city aid, State aid and private control now • 
proves to be a serious embarrassment, since it has become de¬ 
sirable to remove to a country site, with larger opportunities 
for agricultural training and with buildings erected upon the 
cottage system. 

Though this institution was the pioneer in the field, and has 
always remained under the management of some of the most 
distinguished citizens of the metropolis, it did not continue to 
lead in the work which it had so nobly begun. During the 
last quarter of the century other institutions have taken the 
van in such improvements as the abandonment of the system 
of contract labor (which was strongly upheld by a manager 
of this institution at the national conference of charities and 
corrections in 1883); the abolition of the cell system; the intro¬ 
duction of industrial training for purposes of instruction; and 
the partial or complete abolition of corporal punishment. It is 
a singular fact that this institution, controlled by a private 


DESTITUTE, NEGLECTED AND DELINQUENT CHILDREN II/ 

corporation, the managers of which have always been among 
the most respected citizens of New York, has failed to keep 
pace, in these directions, with other institutions, many of which 
are controlled by managers appointed by governors of States, 
or other public authorities. 


BOSTON. 

The second juvenile reformatory in the United States was a 
strictly municipal institution; the house of reformation for 
juvenile offenders, established by the city of Boston, in 1826, 
and located in a portion of the building of the house of cor¬ 
rection for adult offenders. In 1837 it was removed to a sepa¬ 
rate building, but still near the house of correction. In 1840 a 
committee was appointed to consider the wisdom of having 
both boys and girls in the one institution. *\Dr. Samuel G. 
Howe reported for the committee and in favor of separation. 
He was of the opinion that “ the number of happy cases of 
reformation may be increased by (1) placing children with 
virtuous families in the country as soon as possible after their 
committal, and without waiting even for them to be taught 
to read and write in the house ” (this he did not consider 
practicable in all cases), and (2) “ by so administering the 
house that there shall be more classification.’/* The decision in 
favor of the removal of the girls was complied with, but in the 
following year, on the recommendation of the superintendent, 
who believed that he “ could reform boys and girls, too, in the 
same house,” they were readmitted. 

During the early years of its existence the house of reforma¬ 
tion was the subject of much discussion, suffering almo-st 
equally from ill-considered praise and from unmerited odium. 
It was the subject of frequent changes of government and of 
organization. By some it was regarded as so desirable a school 
for boys that parents endeavored to have their children placed 
there without legal or just cause. Again, it was represented 
as a prison of severe character, and unceasing efforts were made 


Il8 AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 

to procure the discharge of boys even when committed for 
serious offences. In 1841, on account of various criticisms 
which had led the courts to commit but few children, the 
abandonment of the institution was proposed, a large part of 
the buildings being unoccupied. It was at this time that the 
institution was placed under the control of the directors of the 
house of industry. In 1846 we learn that, during the preceding 
two years, the older boys had been employed by contractors at 
light shoe-making, which had yielded a revenue of nearly 
$1,000 a year. In 1851 the commitment of truants to the house 
of reformation was authorized; a few years later the managers 
complained that the institution had become crowded with 
truants, committed for from three to six months _only. The 
house of reformation was removed to Deer island in 1858, and 
in i860 a separate building for the girls, also on the island, 
was provided. In 1889 the department for girls was closed, all 
wayward girls being sent thereafter to the State institution 
at Lancaster. In 1895 the boys’ department was removed from 
Deer island to Rainsford’s island. It remained under the 
charge of the same city officials as the juvenile and adult 
paupers and offenders until 1897, when a separate department 
for children was established. The institution had always suf¬ 
fered seriously from its association, both territorially and in 
the public mind, with institutions for the care of adult paupers 
and prisoners. For many years the best public opinion of 
Boston has favored its removal from the island to a country, 
location, but thus far a sufficient public sentiment to enable 
the city to make this desirable change has not been secured. 

PHILADELPHIA. 

The third juvenile reformatory in the United States was the 
Philadelphia house of refuge, the first meeting for the organi¬ 
zation of which was held February 7, 1826. The institution was 
opened November 29, 1828. In its organization it followed 
quite closely the plan of the New York institution. The board 


DESTITUTE, NEGLECTED AND DELINQUENT CHILDREN II9 

of managers was a private corporation, and has so continued 
to the present, though, under the present law, of the twenty- 
eight managers, two are appointed by the mayor and three by 
the court of common pleas of Philadelphia county. At the 
opening of the institution the fact was emphasized that it was 
not to be a prison, but “ a work of charity and mercy; the refuge 
is not a place of punishment; it is not a provision simply, or 
even principally, for the security of society against the offences 
by the confinement of culprits, or for inflicting the vengeance 
of society upon offenders as a terror to those who may be in¬ 
clined to do evil. In the accents of kindness and compassion 
it invites the children of poverty and ignorance, whose wan¬ 
dering and misguided steps are leading them to destruction, 
to come to a home where they will be sheltered and led into 
the ways of usefulness and virtue.” After remaining at the 
original site for twenty years, the house of refuge was removed 
to Twenty-second and Poplar streets, which was then a rural 
district. From here the boys’ department was removed in 1892 
to Glen Mills, Delaware county, Pa., to a farm of 410 acres ancT 
to buildings erected on the cottage system. The girls’ depart¬ 
ment remains at Twenty-second and Poplar streets, in the city. 
At present and for some years the cost of maintenance has been 
divided almost equally between the city of Philadelphia and the 
State. The fact that the institution is under the control of a 
private corporation, though doubtless of great advantage in 
many ways, is probably something of a drawback, as it is also 
in New York city, in securing needful appropriations for addi¬ 
tional buildings. During the past year the legislature was 
asked for a special appropriation for an additional cottage for 
the boys, and at the same time the managers endeavored to 
raise by subscription funds for erecting another building in the 
girls’ department. It is significant, however, that within the 
past year one of the managers has given to the institution 
a splendid gymnasium, drillroom, and swimming pool, prob- 


120 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


ably a more serviceable building for these purposes than would 
be provided by any State or municipal administration. Here, 
as in another institution referred to later, a separate cottage 
for the younger of the boys was provided during 1898. A news 
sheet, the Glen Mills Daily, is issued every day except Sunday. 
The industrial schools of the Philadelphia institution have 
taken high rank during the past decade. Comparatively little 
use is made of the placing-out system; of 376 boys discharged 
during 1898, 301 were returned to friends; 39 were indentured; 
24 were discharged by order of court; 7 were discharged “ to 
find work; ” 3 enlisted, and 2 died. A careful system of super¬ 
vision is, however, maintained over the boys indentured, as 
also over those returned to their parents. The indenture sys¬ 
tem would not seem to be very satisfactory, from the fact that 
of the 36 indentured children who passed from the oversight 
of the visiting agent during the year, 15 were returned to the 
institution, 11 absconded, and only 10 remained until the ma¬ 
turity of the indenture. Of the inmates discharged from the 
girls department, the proportion of those indentured is larger, 
comprising about thirty per cent of the whole. 

In the removal to a country site, the separation of the boys* 
and girls department, the development of industrial training for 
purposes of instruction, and in the relaxation of the former 
severity of discipline, this institution has taken an advanced 
position. 

\ MASSACHUSETTS. 

Although three juvenile reformatories were established be¬ 
tween 1824 and 1828, it was almost twenty years before an¬ 
other institution was established. This was the Lyman school 
for boys, established by the State of Massachusetts, upon the 
suggestion of Hon. Theodore Lyman, ex-mayor of Boston, who 
gave to the State a considerable sum for this purpose. The in¬ 
stitution was, however, from the first, strictly a State institu¬ 
tion in its management, and was the first of this character in 
the United States, if not in the world. We are told that several 


DESTITUTE, NEGLECTED AND DELINQUENT CHILDREN 121 

cities, Lowell, Worcester, Cambridge, and others, had estab¬ 
lished reform schools in connection with their almshouses, but 
these institutions were probably rather of the character of 
homes for destitute and neglected children than of juvenile 
reformatories. The institution was located at Westboro, 
where it still remains. In accordance with Mr. Lyman’s sug¬ 
gestion the commitments to the school were during minority, 
and were limited, except in special cases approved by the trus¬ 
tees, to children under fourteen years of age; the upper age 
limit was, however, soon extended to sixteen, with an alterna¬ 
tive sentence for a less period to the house of correction or 
other penal institution. Many inmates preferred a shorter 
sentence in a penal institution and attempted to secure such 
transfer by bad conduct in the reform school. In 1859 the 
alternative sentence was abolished; a school-ship or nautical 
branch was established, and the age for commitment limited 
to fourteen. Many of the children upon leaving the school 
were indentured to persons approved by the trustees, but they 
were not visited. When the State visiting agency was estab¬ 
lished in 1869 it found great opportunity for improvement in 
the selection of families, and thenceforth a report from the 
visiting agent was required before a child was placed in a family 
from any State institution. 

In 1879 the boards of trustees of the State charitable insti¬ 
tutions were abolished, and the State reform school for boys, 
the State industrial school for girls, and the State primary 
school were placed under one board, the trustees of the State 
primary and reform schools. After the abolition of the school- 
ship in 1872, the reform school for boys suffered from a change 
in the law requiring it to receive boys up to seventeen years of 
age. This was repealed, however, when the Concord reforma¬ 
tory was established in 1884. The reform school for boys was 
thenceforth known as the Lyman school for boys. It was re¬ 
moved to a different site, without walls or enclosed yards, and 
with buildings on the cottage system; the age for commitment 


122 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


was limited to fifteen years. A careful oversight is now maim 
tained over children who have been indentured, and a few of 
the younger children are boarded in families, with the alterna¬ 
tive of a return to the school if they misbehave. The Lyman 
school has carried the cottage system more nearly to its logical 
conclusion than most boys' reformatories; its cottages are 
smaller, more homelike, and more widely scattered; it empha¬ 
sizes manual training in addition to trade teaching, and per¬ 
sonal and moral influences rather than institutional methods; 
and individualizes the treatment of its inmates to a marked ex¬ 
tent. It has justly earned the confidence of the people, and 
occupies a very high place among reform schools for boys in 
the United States. 

NEW YORK STATE. 

Two years after the establishment of the Lyman school the 
western house of refuge in New York, a purely State institu¬ 
tion, located in Rochester, was opened. At first this was an 
institution for boys only, girls from all portions of the State 
still being sent to the institution in New York city. The first 
superintendent of the Rochester institution had for five years 
filled the corresponding position in the house of refuge in New 
York city. The Rochester institution was for many years not 
unlike most institutions of its class. During the past fifteen 
years, however, it has made very rapid advances in introducing 
modem methods of discipline, and more especially in the de¬ 
velopment of its industries and in the teaching of trades, in 
which direction it was a pioneer. Its site, owing to the growth 
of the city of Rochester, has become too valuable to be longer 
used for such purposes, and its buildings are of obsolete type. 
Under legislation of 1899 a commission has selected a country 
site for the institution, and it is expected that it will be removed 
thither within a year or two. It would be very desirable if the 
girls' department of the State industrial school of Rochester 
and that of the house of refuge could both be discontinued and 
a separate institution for wayward girls be established. 


DESTITUTE, NEGLECTED AND DELINQUENT CHILDREN I23 
CINCINNATI. 

One year after the establishment of the western house of 
refuge at Rochester the first juvenile reformatory west of the 
Alleghany mountains was established by the city of Cincin¬ 
nati. This institution was established and is still conducted 
on the congregate system, and is one of the best of the reforma¬ 
tories on that system. It has laid special emphasis on its in¬ 
dustrial department, and has not developed to any great extent 
its placing-out work. 

PENNSYLVANIA. 

In 1851 Pennsylvania, following the example set by New 
Yorw two years earlier, established the house of refuge of 
western Pennsylvania, at Morganza. This was at first a volun¬ 
tary association, but subsequently the counties in the western 
judicial district of Pennsylvania were authorized to subscribe 
not exceeding $10,000 each to the building fund of the insti¬ 
tution; and each county so subscribing was authorized to ap¬ 
point one manager for every $2,500 subscribed, such managers 
to be in addition to those selected by the voluntary association. 
The institution was at first located in the city of Allegheny, but 
in 1872 was authorized to remove to a country site, not more 
than fifty miles distant from Pittsburgh, and removed to Mor¬ 
ganza, Washington county. In 1875 statute was amended 
so that the power of appointing managers was vested solely in 
the governor, except as to such managers as were then ap¬ 
pointed by the counties that had contributed to the building 
fund. The voluntary membership was abolished, and the in¬ 
stitution became strictly a State institution. The cottage sys¬ 
tem was adopted by this institution when it removed from the 
city of Allegheny to its country location in December, 1876. 
The boys and girls are divided into eight families. The in¬ 
stitution receives about one-third of its support from the State, 
and two-thirds from the counties from which its inmates are 
received. 


124 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


OHIO. 

The reform school for boys opened at Lancaster, Ohio, in 
1856, introduced the new type of institution variously known 
as the open, cottage, or family system. The object was to in¬ 
troduce more of the features of family life, to encourage self- 
control by placing greater reliance upon the boys, and to sepa¬ 
rate them into grades, on the basis of character and conduct. 
This school was a pioneer in these directions, but its example 
was followed in many States, and has taken precedence over 
the earlier congregate plan. 

NEW JERSEY. 

The New Jersey reform school for boys was opened June 28, 
1867, as a State institution. Its early reports speak in favor 
of many features which were not then generally regarded with 
favor, but which are now very generally accepted. Its first re¬ 
port states that “ the system which it is proposed to adopt is to 
have families of boys in separate houses, each family to be un¬ 
der the care of a suitable man and his wife. The advantages of 
the plan are briefly that such division awakens more of the in¬ 
terest and affections of home in the minds of the boys and places 
them permanently under the notice and supervision of the pa¬ 
rents of the house, who, devoting themselves to their own 
pupils, acquire a more perfect acquaintance with and influence 
over them than could be the case were they in congregate es¬ 
tablishments like the refuges of metropolitan cities.” The 
same report describes a “ system of grading which puts the 
character of each boy in his own hands.” It states also that al¬ 
though the open farm system offers almost unlimited freedom, 
there had been but one attempt to escape, and that was unsuc¬ 
cessful. 

It is to be noted that the managers of this institution, before 
adopting its plans for building and management, conferred es¬ 
pecially with the authorities of the Ohio reform school, and 
that the first superintendent had an intimate acquaintance with 


DESTITUTE, NEGLECTED A&D DELINQUENT CHILDREN 125 

the working of the State reform school at Westboro, Mass. 
Subsequent reports speak in high terms of the success of the 
open-farm system and the system of grades or credits and de¬ 
merits. The placing-out system is also spoken of as in con¬ 
siderable use, with excellent results, in the report of 1869. 

LIST OF JUVENILE REFORMATORIES. 

The rapid multiplication of juvenile reformatories after 1850 
precludes further mention of individual institutions; it will be 
noted, however, that a much larger proportion of institutions 
for wayward children are public, i. e., under State or municipal 
control, than of institutions for destitute children. The ma¬ 
jority are strictly State institutions, though there are a few 
municipal institutions of this nature, nearly all of which were 
established prior to 1875. Even in States in which the con¬ 
tract or subsidy system prevails for the care of destitute chil¬ 
dren, the juvenile reformatories are usually under public con¬ 
trol. There are a few reformatories under private control and 
supported by private funds, such as the Burnham industrial 
school, located at Canaan Four Corners, N. Y., and others. 
There are also numerous convents under the charge of religious 
sisterhoods, for the reformation of young women, some of 
which also receive girls. A list of juvenile reformatory institu¬ 
tions in the United States, given in the United States census of 
1890, with such revision as has been possible, is as follows: 

1824. House of refuge, New V'ork city. 

1826. House of reformation, Boston. 

1828. House of refuge, Philadelphia. 

1847. Lyman school for boys, Westboro, Mass. 

1849. State industrial school, Rochester. 

1850. House of refuge, Cincinnati. 

1851. Reform school, Morganza, Pa. 

1853. State reform school, Portland, Me. 

1854. State reform school for boys, West Meriden, Ct. 

1854. House of refuge, St. Louis. 

1856. State reform school, Lansing, Mich. 

1856. Boys’ industrial school (formerly called the “ reform farm ”), Lan¬ 
caster, Ohio. 

1858. State industrial school, Manchester, N. H. 


126 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


1858. State industrial school for girls, Lancaster, Mass. 

1864. State reform school, Jamesburgh, N. J. 

1864. The house of good shepherd, Baltimore. 

1865. Industrial school of reform, Louisville. 

1866. Reform school for boys, Plainfield, Ind. 

1866. Reform school, Vergennes, Vt. 

1867. Industrial school, Eldora, Iowa. 

1867. Female house of refuge, Baltimore. 

1868. St. Mary’s industrial school for boys, Carroll, Md. 

1869. Reform school, Washington. 

1869. Girls’ industrial school, Delaware, Ohio. 

1870. Industrial school for girls, Middletown, Ct. 

1870. House of reformation for colored boys, Cheltenham, Md. 

1870. Plummer farm school, Salem, Mass. 

1871. State industrial school for girls, Trenton. 

1871. Reform school for girls and women’s prison, Indianapolis. 

1873. Newark city home, Verona, N. J. 

1874. Industrial school for girls, Hallowell, Me. 

1875. Industrial school for girls, Milwaukee. 

1878. State industrial school for girls, Adrian, Mich. 

1878. State reform school. Red Wing, Minn. 

1880. State industrial school. Golden, Colo. 

1880. State reform school, Topeka. 

1880. State industrial school, Kearney, Neb. 

1882. State industrial school for boys, Waukesha, Wis. 

1882. Oaklawn school for girls, Howard, R. I. 

1882. Industrial school for colored girls, Melvale, Md. 

1883. Sockannosset school for boys, Howard, R. L 
1885. Ferris industrial school, Wilmington, Del. 

1888. Reform school for boys, Boonville, Mo. 

1888. State industrial school for girls, Chillicothe, Mo. 

1888. State industrial school for girls, Beloit, Kas. 

1890. State reform school, Pontiac, Ill. 

1890. Girls’ industrial school, Geneva, Neb. 

1892. State home for juvenile offenders, Geneva, Ill. 

1892. The house of the good shepherd for colored girls, Baltimore. 

1893. Reform school for girls, Washington. 

1894. Delaware industrial school for girls, Wilmington, Del. 

1897. Virginia manual labor school, Hanover, Va. 

1900. State reformatory for boys (white and colored) Marianna, Fla. 

1900. State reformatory for girls (white and colored), Marianna, Fla. 

TENDENCIES IN REFORMATORY WORK. 

Several general tendencies in juvenile reformatory work are 
obvious. It is interesting to notice the various names by which 
reformatory institutions have been known at different periods. 
At first they were houses of refuge. Then 1 it was sought to 
emphasize the object of the institution by calling them reform 


DESTITUTE, NEGLECTED AND DELINQUENT CHILDREN 1 27 

schools. In course of time this name came to have its disad¬ 
vantages. To have come from a reform school was not a good 
recommendation; in fact, it was a distinct handicap to the dis¬ 
charged pupils. To escape from this, and also to emphasize the 
industrial features, the name industrial school was taken up. 
As this came to be more and more generally used, it came to 
have some of the disadvantages of “ reform school,” and it also 
had an unfortunate effect upon industrial schools that were 
not reformatory in purpose. Probably the best solution is that 
of giving the school the name of some person or place. This 
neither creates a false impression, nor makes prominent the 
reformatory feature. The Michigan institution has been named 
by statute successively, “ house of correction,” “ State reform 
school,” and “ industrial school for boys.” 

The importance of employment as a means of preventing 
deterioration, and as a positive reformatory agency, was early 
recognized. At first the industries were extremely simple. In 
some cases the labor of the inmates was farmed out to con¬ 
tractors by the hour, or by the piece. This gradually gave way 
to manufacturing industries carried on in the institution, under 
the direction of its own officers, and for the production of 
articles for consumption in the institution, or for the market. 
This in turn, in the best institutions, has been replaced by the 
introduction of industries for the purposes of instruction rather 
than of revenue. Those industries which are most useful in 
producing revenue are apt to be less useful in fitting a boy for 
outside life. Some, notably chair-caning and brush-making, 
came to known in the industrial world as “ institution ” in¬ 
dustries. For this reason, among others, in his report in the 
national conference of charities and correction of 1890, Mr. T. J. 
Charlton said of chair-caning — “ I must confess that I dislike 
this industry more than any other that has been mentioned in 
this report.” There is also an excellent paper on the same sub¬ 
ject by the same writer in the conference proceedings of 1897. 
The best reformatories are industrial schools in fact as well as 


in name. 


128 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


In the construction of buildings, the cottage plan is clearly 
preferred. Though congregate institutions still are built, they 
find no defenders, except on grounds of economy. Discipline 
has more and more relaxed in severity. Bolts, bars, and high 
walls are rapidly becoming a thing of the past. In 1898, of 
forty-three reformatories reported upon at the national con¬ 
ference of charities and correction, thirteen were classed as 
“ walled ” and thirty as “ open ” institutions. Though the 
terms were not very clearly defined, these figures undoubtedly 
fairly represent the preponderant sentiment in favor of the open 
system. More and more the problem is seen to be primarily 
one of education, not of repression, or even of reformation, as 
that term is ordinarily used. The evil tendencies are to be at¬ 
tacked indirectly by the introduction of new interests, new am¬ 
bitions, and new powers. 

IX — PRESENT TENDENCIES. 

The experience of the century and the increasing study given 
to child-saving work during the past twenty-five years, might 
naturally be expected to result in more or less clearly defined 
tendencies toward the wider adoption of some methods, and 
the modification or rejection of others. Through the free com¬ 
petition which has prevailed, or, if the phrase sounds harsh as 
applied to charities, through the unrestricted opportunity for 
each system to demonstrate its inherent tendencies and to se¬ 
cure its natural and logical results, certain methods should by 
this time have shown their fitness to survive. Are we able at 
the close of the century to see any evidence pointing toward the 
general adoption of certain methods? 

As to governmental agencies the facts are evident. As be¬ 
tween State, versus county, city and town systems, the State 
plan is far in the lead. No new States are establishing a series 
of local or county homes for children. It is doubtful whether 
any one of the three States that have county children’s homes 
would choose this plan if they were now for the first establish- 


DESTITUTE, NEGLECTED AND DELINQUENT CHILDREN I29 

mg their system. The increasing effectiveness of State super¬ 
vision over the county homes, approximating in some cases 
actual control, suggests the probability of State management 
in the not distant future. State management would certainly 
be followed, sooner or later, by a sharp reduction in the num¬ 
ber of the institutions. 

\ The real contest, if such it may be called, will be between the 
State and the contract or subsidy systems. To put it plainly, 
the question now being decided is this — is our public admin¬ 
istration sufficiently honest and efficient to be entrusted with 
the management of a system for the care of destitute children, 
or must we turn that branch of public service over to private 
charitable corporations, leaving to public officials the func¬ 
tions of paying the bills, and of exercising such supervision 
over the workings of the plan as may be possible? Each of 
these plans finds new advocates and wider adoption yearly. 
Strongly contrasted in spirit and method, and, in any one State, 
almost mutually exclusive, it seems certain that one plan or the 
other will, by a process of gradual selection, gain the ascend¬ 
ancy, and become distinctively, though probably not exclu¬ 
sively, the American system of public care of destitute and neg¬ 
lected children. Which it shall be, only the twentieth century 
can tell. Each plan has powerful advocates, and each has be¬ 
hind it some of the most powerful forces in American social and 
political life. 

There are some indications that the State system will pre¬ 
vail. No State that has adopted it has abandoned it; nor in 
any State in which a State system has been actually established 
has there been any movement in favor of its abandonment or 
serious modification. On the other hand, the contract or sub¬ 
sidy system seems to be everywhere in a state of unstable 
equilibrium. Opposed as it undoubtedly is to the natural in¬ 
stincts of great bodies of American people, and containing in 
9 


130 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


itself tendencies to an undue growth, which inevitably alarm 
many who are not opposed to it from principle, it everywhere 
arouses from time to time efforts for its better regulation, 
which, if they fail, one after another, lead to a demand, which 
in more than one case has prevailed, for its abolition. There is 
little reason for thinking that the subsidy plan will ever be 
wholly discontinued in all the States, but for the reasons above 
stated it seems likely that it will not make much further prog¬ 
ress, and that it may be discontinued in some localities in which 
it is at present strongly rooted. 


As to the form which the State systems are likely to take, 
there undoubtedly is a growing tendency to create a strong 
central State unsalaried board of several members, having, to 
deal only with children’s work; to vest in this body the custody 
of all destitute and neglected children in the State who are 
public charges; and to leave the board free in a large measure 
to work out the best system for caring for the children, 
through temporary institutions, boarding-out, and placing-out. 
After all, the difference between the Massachusetts State sys¬ 
tem and the Michigan plan is simply that, for the temporary 
care of children, the latter uses an institution, while the former 
uses boarding-out. In both plans, the placing of children in 
free permanent homes is the chief feature. Already there are 
evidences that the Michigan, Minnesota, and other similar in¬ 
stitutions are finding a limitation of their plan, evidenced by 
the gradual accumulation of children who are not available for 
placing in free homes, such as crippled, unattractive, slightly 
diseased, and other cases. These must either accumulate in 
the institution, as seems to be the case in Minnesota, or be re¬ 
turned to counties and refused admission to the State school, as 
is the case in Michigan, where already there is a movement to 
either compel the State school to receive such cases, or to create 
a new State institution for them. Many of these children could 
be placed in families at board, though not, for some time at 



DESTITUTE, NEGLECTED AND DELINQUENT CHILDREN I3I 


least, in free homes. For this reason, and also because as com¬ 
munities grow older the opportunities for placing children, who 
are too old for legal adoption, seems to grow less, it is likely 
that the State systems will gradually find it desirable, if not 
necessary, to place certain of their children in families with pay¬ 
ment for board. Whether the State schools for dependent chil¬ 
dren will follow the example of the State of Massachusetts and 
the city of Boston, in doing away with the temporary institu¬ 
tion altogether, is doubtful. 

Several tendencies in the management of private charities for 
children are evident. The older orphan asylums are in some 
cases still conducted on nearly the same lines as when first 
organized, but among the newer institutions there is almost a 
general acceptance of the fact that orphans and children upon 
whom there is no valid parental claim are much better off if 
adopted by families, and that to rear them in asylums until they 
are twelve, fourteen or sixteen years of age is an expensive, 
wholly unnecessary and seriously harmful blunder. This senti¬ 
ment found expression in the unanimous report of the Com¬ 
mittee on the Care of Destitute and Neglected Children, to the 
National Conference of Charities and Correction of 1899. The 
very general sentiment in favor of placing nearly all classes of 
'dependent children in free homes in families is likely to lead to a 
more general adoption of the boarding-out plan by private 
charities, as the limitations of the plan of placing-out without 
payment for board are more clearly perceived, and as such 
limitations become more pronounced as communities grow 



In the institutional care of all classes of children, the cottage 


plan has clearly proven its superiority to the congregate sys¬ 
tem. Those who continue to erect congregate dormitories 
must be ready to apologize for them to the enlightened senti¬ 
ment of the community. 


132 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


The general movement in favor of industrial education, leads 
naturally to a pronounced tendency to provide trade teaching 
in institutions, for such of the older children as, for good or 
insufficient reasons, are retained. It is now seen, however, that 
this training is simply that which should be within the reach 
of all children, and that it can be offered to children living at 
home, or with other families, as easily as to those living in in¬ 
stitutions. We are not likely to have any more institutions, 
founded for the express purpose of teaching trades, which 
make residence in the institution and support from its funds a 
necessary condition of receiving such instruction. Philan¬ 
thropists who wish to further the cause of industrial education 
are more likely to follow the example of Pratt, Drexel, Armour, 
and Auchmuty, than that of Girard and Williamson. Such 
children as must be kept in institutions will be given every 
practicable opportunity for industrial training, but children will 
not be gathered into institutions for the purpose of giving them 
such training. 

As to the division of the field between public agencies and 
private charities, little change is noticeable, except an increas¬ 
ing tendency to regard the public authorities as the appropriate 
agencies to assume the care of children who are to be perma¬ 
nently separated from their families, and private charities as 
more particularly fitted to deal with those cases involving tem¬ 
porary assistance, or the care of children for whom some pay¬ 
ment is made by a surviving parent. Associated charity, indi¬ 
vidual effort, and private funds have never done more for 
destitute children than at present. There need be no fear that 
they will be rendered unnecessary by the development of a 
State systepi. 

Nor, unfortunately, does there seem to be any reason for 
thinking that charities for caring for destitute, neglected, and 
delinquent children will soon become unnecessary. We learn 
to deal more and more wisely with those who are in distress, 


DESTITUTE, NEGLECTED AND DELINQUENT CHILDREN 1 33 

but the forces which produce poverty, neglect, and crime seem 
to be beyond our reach. The poor, the neglectful, and the 
vicious we shall have with us for a long time to come, and the 
hearts of the generous will continue to respond, both through 
individual and associate charity, and through governmental ac¬ 
tion. There is ground for rational optimism, however, in the 
fact that, more and more, thought is added to kindliness, and 
that as surely as experience and study bring fresh truths to 
light, so surely does the intelligent sentiment of the com¬ 
munity, sooner or later, compel their adoption. 

X — BIBLIOGRAPHY ON THE CARE OF DESTITUTE, 
NEGLECTED AND DELINQUENT CHILDREN. 

(This bibliography is far from complete, but is intended to indicate the more 
important sources of information.) 

Aldermen. Assistant Aldermen. Common Council. New 
York City; Proceedings 1800-1873. City Library, City 
Hall, N. Y. 

Berkowitz, Henry, Rabbi. Nobody's Children. Discourse be¬ 
fore congregation, Rodef Shalom, 10 pp. The pulpit 
message for March 10, 1893. Philadelphia, Benj. Nusbaum, 
publisher, 830 N. 6th St. 

Brace, Charles Loring. The Best Methods of Founding Chil¬ 
dren's Charities in Towns and Villages, 11 pp. Paper pre¬ 
sented at National Conference of Charities at Cleveland, 
Ohio, 1880. The Dangerous Classes of New York and 
Twenty Years’ Work Among Them, 448 pp., Wynkoop & 
Hallenbeck, publishers, N. Y., 1872. Methods and Aims of 
a Charity for the Children of the Poor. Address to the 
theological students. Harvard University, May, 1881, 
27 pp. 

Brace, Chas. Loring, Jr. Country Homes for Dependent Chil¬ 
dren, N. Y., 1898. A Review of the placing-out Work of 
the Children’s Aid Society of New York, 28 pp. 


134 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


Briggs, Franklin H. Boys as They are Made and How to Re¬ 
make Them. Rochester, N. Y., 1894. 

Burt, Frederick A. Baby-Farming. Report to the Confer¬ 
ence of Child-Helping Societies, Boston, November 28, 
1892, 18 pp. Published in Lend-a-Hand for January, 1893. 

Cammann, Henry J., and Camp, Hugh N. The Charities of 
New York, Brooklyn, and Staten Island, N. Y. Pub¬ 
lished by Hurd & Houghton, 459 Broome Street, 1868. 

Care of Dependent Children. Circular issued by the Board of 
State Charities, Columbus, Ohio, 1892. 

Care of Destitute Children in New York City. Publication 
No. 72, State Charities Aid Association, May, 1899. 

Carlisle, Robert J., M. D. An Account of Bellevue Hospital, 
1736-1893. Published by Society of the Alumni of Belle¬ 
vue Hospital, New York, 1893. (Contains an account of 
the early history of the New York almshouse.) 

Census U. S., nth, 1890. Volume on Crime, Pauperism and 
Benevolence, part II, pp. 894-936. 

Charities Review (contains many valuable papers on child-sav¬ 
ing work). See index of vols. I-IX in February, 1900. 

Cobb, Mrs. Mary E. The Responsibility of States to Their 
Dependent Children, 29 pp. J. H. Franklin & Co., printers, 
Fall River, Mass., 1888. 

Conference on the Care of Dependent and Delinquent Chil¬ 
dren in the State of New York, Proceedings of. Publica¬ 
tion No. 59 of the State Charities Aid Association, 1893. 

Cox, Mary McHenry. Advantages of Institutions in the Edu¬ 
cation of Destitute Children, 12 pp. Philadelphia, Feb¬ 
ruary 15, 1887. 

Cummings, John. Poor Laws of Massachusetts and New 
York. Publications of American Economic Association, 
vol. 10, No. 4. McMillan & Co., New York, July, 1895. 

Dependent Children in the City and State of New York. Re¬ 
prints from twenty-third and twenty-fifth annual reports 


DESTITUTE, NEGLECTED AND DELINQUENT CHILDREN 1 35 


of the State Charities Aid Association, New York, 1895, 
1897. 

Directories of Charities. New York, Chicago, Boston, Phila¬ 
delphia, Baltimore, Buffalo. 

Ferris, John C. Homes for the Homeless, or Fourteen Years 
Among the Orphans, 304 pp. Publishing house of the 
M. E. Church South, Barber & Smith, agents, Nashville, 
Tenn., 1895. 

Field, David Dudley. The Child and the State. The Forum, 
April, 1886, 8 pp. 

Folks, Homer. Annual Reports of Child-Caring Organiza¬ 
tions. Lend-a-Hand, October, 1893, 8 pp. Child-Saving 
Work in Pennsylvania, 18 pp. Press of Geo. H. Ellis, 
Boston, 1893. Family Life for Dependent and Wayward 
Children. Reprinted from Proceedings of International 
Congress of Charities, Correction and Philanthropy, 
Chicago, 1893. The Removal of Children from Alms¬ 
houses, 15 pp. Lend-a-Hand, September, 1894. J. Still¬ 
man Smith & Co., Boston. The Care of Dependent Chil¬ 
dren, from the Standpoint of a Director of the' Poor. Pro¬ 
ceedings of Convention of Directors of the Poor of Penn¬ 
sylvania, 1892. State Supervision of Child-Caring 
Agencies. Proceedings N. C. C., 1895. Reprinted in Re¬ 
port of N. Y. State Board of Charities, 1895. What Should 
Be the Relation between a Society for the Prevention of 
Cruelty to Children and Child-Caring Agencies. Read be¬ 
fore International Humane Congress, 1893. Reprinted in 
Altruist Interchange, New York, January, 1897. Some 
Developments of the Boarding-out System. Charities Re¬ 
view, March, 1893. Care of Dependent Children. Ad¬ 
dress before Annual Meeting of Baltimore C. O. S. Report 
Baltimore C. O. S., 1894. Why Should Dependent Chil¬ 
dren Be Reared in Families rather than in Institutions? 
Proceedings, Superintendents of the Poor of New York 


136 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


Convention, 1895. P. 19. Public Aid to Private Charities. 
A Rejoinder to Rev. T. L. Kinkeads’ letter. Charities, 
New York, October 7, 1899. 

Hale, Geo. S. Memorial History of Boston, 1881, chap. XIII. 
The Charities of Boston, etc. Report of Commission on 
the Treatment of the Poor (Geo. S. Hale, Chairman), Bos¬ 
ton. Rockwell & Churchill, 1878. The Proposed State 
Children’s Bureau, Why it Should be Established, 58 pp. 
Geo. H. Ellis, printer, Boston, 1895. 

Hart, H. H. Immigration of Children by New York Chil¬ 
dren’s Aid Society. Report to State Board of Charities, 
27 pp. State Printer, Minneapolis, 1884. 

Hill, Florence Davenport. Children of the State. Deals with 
all countries; chapter VII treats of United States experi¬ 
ence. The McMillan Co., 1889. 1 

History and Reminiscences of the Philadelphia Almshouse and 
the Philadelphia Hospital. Reprinted from Philadelphia 
Reports. Delve & Blackburn, Philadelphia, 1890. 

History of Child-Saving in the United States, being the report 
of the Committee on the History of Child-Saving Work to 
the Twentieth National Conference of Charities and Cor¬ 
rection. Geo. H. Ellis, Boston, 1893. (The best single 
source of information.) 

International Congress of Charities, Correction and Philan¬ 
thropy. Proceedings of Section on the Care of Depend¬ 
ent, Neglected and Wayward Children, Chicago, 1893. 
Published by Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore, Md. 

Jones, Rev. Jenkin Lloyd. “ Not Institutions but Homes,” 
38 pp. Sermon, published by All Souls Church, Chicago, 
1893. 

Leonard, Clara T. The Best Way to deal with Children taken 
from homes of vice or neglect: life in a family vs. large 
institutions. Substance of an address made before Associ¬ 
ated Charities of Boston, at a general conference, February 


DESTITUTE, NEGLECTED AND DELINQUENT CHILDREN 1 37 

14, 1881, 15 pp. Tolman & White, printers, Boston, 1881. 
Destitute and Delinquent Children, 9 pp. Sunday After¬ 
noon Magazine, December, 1878. Published in Springfield, 
Mass. 

Letchworth, Wm. P. Children of the State. Address made 
at the Thirteenth National Conference of Charities and 
Correction, St. Paul, Minn., 1880, 58 pp. Children in 
Almshouses. Extract from an address before State Con¬ 
vention of Superintendents of the Poor, 2 pp. Rochester, 
June, 1874. Classification of Children needing care, train¬ 
ing or reformation. An argument against Assembly bill 
in relation to Western House of Refuge. April, 1882. 
Homes for Homeless Children. Extract from the Ninth 
Annual Report of the State Board of Charities of the State 
of New York, relating to orphan asylums and other insti¬ 
tutions for the care of children, 508 pp. Weed, Parsons & 
Co., printers, Albany, N. Y., 1876. Girls’ Reformatories. 
Reasons for establishing a separate girls’ reformatory in¬ 
stead of rebuilding on the old site of the edifice recently 
destroyed by fire, at the State Industrial School, Roches¬ 
ter, N. Y. Embodied in a letter addressed to the Hon. 
Jas. W. Husted, Speaker of the Assembly, April 7, 1887, 
51 pp. Matthews, Northrup & Co., printers, Buffalo, N. Y. 
Innocent and Incorrigible Children; classification and 
training of, 19 pp. Paper read at Tenth National Confer¬ 
ence of Charities and Correction, at Louisville, 1883, Argus 
Co., printers, Albany, N. Y., 1884. Juvenile Offenders: 
industrial training of children in houses of refuge and other 
reformatory schools, 44 pp. Argus Co., printers, Albany, 
N. Y., 1883. 

Lord, Henry W. Dependent and Delinquent Children (with 
special reference to girls). How they are, and how they 
ought to be, cared for, 8 pp. Paper read at meeting of 
County Superintendents of Poor, Grand Rapids, Mich. 


I38 AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 

Lowell, Mrs. Josephine Shaw. Dependent Children supported 
by city of New York, and proposed draft of bill to create 
a department for their care. Lend-a-Hand, March, 1886. 
Report on the Institutions for the Care of Destitute Chil¬ 
dren of the city of New York, 79 pp. From Nineteenth 
Annual Report of State Board of Charities, 1886. Report 
upon the Care of Dependent Children in the city of New 
York and elsewhere, 17 pp. From Twenty-third Annual 
Report State Board of Charities, 1890. 

Mease, James, M. D. The Picture of Philadelphia. Phila., 
1811, pp. 292-296. 

National Conference of Charities and Correction, Proceed¬ 
ings 1873-1900 (contains many valuable papers, not men¬ 
tioned in this bibliography; volume for 1893 contains index 
of preceding numbers). Geo. H. Ellis, publisher, Boston, 
Mass. 

Pauper Children in Poorhouses and Almshouses in the State of 
New York. Extracts from Proceedings of Boards of 
County Supervisors, etc., 1861-1874, 20 pp. S. C. A. A. 
Library. 

Peirce, B. K., D. D. A Half Century with Juvenile Delin¬ 
quents, or the New York House of Refuge and its times. 
Appleton & Co., New York, 1869. 

Pemberton, Caroline. Your Little Brother James. Geo. W. 
Jacobs & Co., Philadelphia, 1896. 

Placing-out of Children. Report of the Committee of State 
Board of Charities of the State of New York, 1898. 

Public Appropriations to Private Charities in New York city. 
Publication No. 73, State Charities Aid Association, July, 
1899. 

Putnam, Elizabeth C. On the Duties of Guardians of Children, 
7 pp. Boston, September, 1879. 

Report of the Committee appointed at a town meeting of the 
citizens of the City and County of Philadelphia, on July 
23, 1827, to consider the subject of the pauper system of 
the city, etc., Philadelphia, 1827. 


DESTITUTE, NEGLECTED AND DELINQUENT CHILDREN 1 39 

Report of the Commission on the Number and Condition of 
Dependent and Neglected Children in the State (of Con¬ 
necticut) to the General Assembly, January, 1883, 
16 pp. Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor, printers, Hart¬ 
ford, Ct. 

Report of Special Committee of Board of Managers of Society 
for the Reformation of Juvenile Delinquents on establish¬ 
ing a system of visitation. New York, April, 1894. 

Richmond, Rev. J. F. New York and its institutions, 1604- 
11872, 608 pp. E. B. Treat, New York, 1872. 

Ring, Thomas F. Catholic Child-Helping Agencies in the 
United States. The motive, the methods, and the results, 
22 pp. Twenty-third National Conference of Charities and 
Correction, Grand Rapids, Mich., 1896. 

Riis, Jacob A. Children of the Poor, 1892. How the other 
Half lives, 1890. (Deal chiefly with conditions in New 
York city.) Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York. 

Scherf & Westcott’s History of Philadelphia. (Second volume 
has chapter on Philadelphia Charities.) 

Schindler, Rabbi Solomon. Thoughts in an Orphan Asylum, 
15 pp. Arena, November, 1893. Arena Publishing Co., 
Boston. 

Statements relating to reformatory, charitable and industrial 
schools for the Young, 208 pp. Circulars of Information 
of the Bureau of Education. Washington, Government 
Printing Office, 1875. 

State Boards of Charities, Annual Reports of, Massachusetts, 
Minnesota, New York, Ohio and other States. 

State Conferences of Charities, Proceedings of, Indiana, Michi¬ 
gan, Minnesota, Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania and other 
States. 

Warner, Amos G. American Charities. Chapter IX: De¬ 
pendent Children. Thomas Y. Crowell, New York, 1894. 

Wilkins, Mary E. The Bound Girl; Deacon Thomas Wale’s 
Will; and the Adopted Daughter, Chapters in The Pot of 
Gold. D. Lothrop Co., Boston, 1893. 


140 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


Williams, Talcott, LL. D. The Legal Status of Children In¬ 
dentured and the present method of caring for destitute 
children, and the work of the Aid Societies, Philadelphia, 
1895. Reprinted from the Report of the Twenty-first 
Annual Session of the Association of Directors of the Poor 
and Charities of the State of Pennsylvania, held at Phila¬ 
delphia, October, 1895. Myers & Shinkle Co., Pittsburg, 
Pa., 1896. 

.Wilson, Anna T. Some Arguments for the Boarding-out of 
Dependent Children in the State of New York. State 
Charities Record. Published by State Charities Aid Asso¬ 
ciation, 1893. 

Wines, E. C, D. D. LL. D. The State of Prisons and of Child- 
Saving Institutions in the Civilized World, 719 pp. Uni¬ 
versity Press, Cambridge, 1880. 

Yates, J. V. N., Report on Relief and Settlement of the Poor, 
New York, 1824. Reprinted by State Board of Charities, 
1900. 

REPORTS OF INSTITUTIONS AND SOCIETIES. 
Colorado: 

Colorado State Home for Dependent and Neglected Chil¬ 
dren, 1896-1900, Denver, Col. 

District of Columbia: 

Superintendent of Charities. Washington, D. C., 1891- 
1900. 

Georgia: 

Union Society, Bethesda, Ga. Fourteenth Anniversary, 
April 25, 1899. 

Union Society Minutes, 1750-1858, with Historical Sketch 
of Bethesda Orphan Asylum. John M. Cooper & Co., 
Savannah, Ga., i860. , 

Iowa: 

Soldiers Orphans’ Home and Home for Indigent Children, 
1865-1900, Davenport, Iowa. (Sixteenth Biennial Re¬ 
port, fully illustrated.) 


DESTITUTE, NEGLECTED AND DELINQUENT CHILDREN I4I 


Kansas: 

Soldiers Orphans' Home, Atchison, Kan., 1886-1900. 

Maryland: 

The Baltimore Orphan Asylum. Acts of Incorporation, 
By-laws, etc., 1891. 

Massachusetts: 

Boston Asylum and Farm School for Indigent Boys, 1896. 

Boston Female Asylum. Historical Account, etc., 1898. 

Children's Aid Society of Boston, 1865-1900. 

Children’s Institutions, Department of Boston, 1897-1900. 

State Board of Lunacy and Charity of Massachusetts. 

The State Primary School of Massachusetts (Closing Re¬ 
port), October, 1895. 

Michigan: 

Michigan State Public School, Coldwater, Mich., 1873- 
1900. 

Minnesota: 

State Public School of Minnesota, Owatonna, 1884-1900. 
See especially Seventh Biennial Report. 

Montana: 

State Orphans' Home, Twin Bridges, Montana, 1893-1900. 

Nevada: 

State Orphans' Home, Carson City, Nev., 1864-1900. 

New Jersey: 

New Jersey Commission on Defective, Delinquent and De¬ 
pendent Children, and their care, report of, 35 pp. Mac- 
Crellish & Quigley, State Printers, Trenton, N. J., 1898. 

New Jersey State Board of Children’s Guardians, report 
for the year 1899, 60 PP- MacCrellish & Quigley, State 
Printers, Trenton, N. J., 1899. 

New York: 

Catholic Protectory, annual reports, 1863-1900. 

Children’s Aid Society of New York, 1853-1900. 

New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Chil¬ 
dren, 1875-1900. 


142 


AMERICAN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 


The Orphan Asylum Society in New York City, origin and 
history. A reprint of annual reports of this institution 
from 1806 to 1896, 2 vols. 

State Charities Aid Association, 1873-1900, especially 
1893-1900. 

Agency for Providing Situations for Destitute Mothers 
with Infants, annual reports published by State Chari¬ 
ties Aid Association, New York, 1894-1900. 

Orphan Asylums, annual reports of. See list on pp. 34-36. 

Pennsylvania: 

Children’s Aid Society of Philadelphia, 1881-1900. 

Board of City Trusts, including annual reports of Girard 
College, Philadelphia, 1870-1900. 

Rhode Island: 

State Home and School for Dependent Children, Provi¬ 
dence, R. I., 1886-1900. 

South Carolina: 

Charleston Orphan House, Charleston, S. C., centennial 
proceedings, 1890. 

Texas: 

State Orphan Asylum, Corsicana, Tex., 1887-1900. 

.Wisconsin: 

State Public School of Wisconsin, 1886-1900. 



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